My date is sweeter than yours
Just because I’m married doesn’t mean I don’t have a date every now and then. And when I do, I know that my date is definitely sweeter than yours! Mostly because mine let’s me soak and squeeze the seed out of’em? Seed? Oh yea, sorry I meant dates – the kind you eat, not the one you take out to eat!
Dates are a great substitute for sugar and are a natural, more milder sweetener.
As I continue to explore recipes for Toddler S, I am always looking for healthier alternatives to processed foods, nutritional calories instead of empty calories, and substitutes to ingredients I’m not a huge fan of. Sugar (salt and all purpose flour) is high on my black-list but I didn’t want to limit myself from baking because of this, so I decided to experiment with dates as my sweetener instead of sugar.
So far I have used the date substitute to bake some banana (nut) bread for us and for Toddler S! It turned out great, definitely not as sweet as sugar but we did not mind that at all because even the bananas acted as great sweeteners.
Try it out the next time you bake and let us know how it tastes!
I used 17 medjool dates which I picked up from Costco. You can make more/less depending on how much you need for your baking. I’m no baker, so this may not be fool proof but I just replaced any sugar requirement with an equal proportion of the date puree. Luckily, for the banana nut bread it was a very small amount.
So next time you do have a date (the kind you take out to dinner), make them a bottle of this yumminess, and let them know that “my date is sweeter than yours.” Maybe it’ll lead to date #2? (okay, it might be a turn off, just bake them something instead!).
- 17 medjool dates (without seeds if possible, mine were seeded)
- water
- Soak 15-20 dates in enough water to cover all
- Soak for about 20 minutes (you may have to soak longer if your dates are not already soft)
- Save the soaked water to use in blender
- Deseed dates if needed by squeezing seed out
- Place all dates in blender and add water as needed to make a puree
- Once blended, the puree should be a thick but blend-able consistency
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate