Date Paste

If you've followed any of my recent posts, you'll know that I am obsessed with Paleo of late. There are so many little "rules" that go along with Paleo, but the biggest one is No Processed Foods. Largely I do really well with this, but I just can't give up my coffee with sugar and International Delight Cold Stone Sweet Cream Coffee Creamer.

I've been saying for a while now that I wanted to find a Paleo coffee cream recipe, but I knew it was going to be difficult to replicate those delicious flavors you get from all the chemicals in commercial creamer. I found one that looked promising made from coconut milk, date paste, and assorted flavorings (mostly extracts) depending on the desired end result. It was good - but not great. I'm going to keep looking and hopefully come up with something that will satisfy the coffee snob buried not so deep inside me.

The date paste, though, that's a keeper. From what I've read, you can use it fairly interchangeably in recipes that call for honey or agave, though more wet ingredients may be required because the date paste is obviously much thicker. I found a recipe for sweet potato brownies that are TOTALLY getting made soon, and it calls for date paste. I'm actually really excited to start playing with this. I'm thinking some sort of salad dressing, too. I can't tell you how many times I've wished with all my might that honey was thicker. Date paste is the answer to that wish.

This is so simple it's stupid. I used my food processor instead of my BlendTec and I'm glad I did. The final product was so thick I don't think it would have fared well in my BlendTec. Maybe, but it turned out perfectly in the food processor. The trick here is to be p..a..t..i..e..n..t. It's going to take a while for the paste to get really smooth and creamy. If you stop short, you're going to end up with little chunks in it, which is no bueno. Process, scrape. Process, scrape. Keep doing this until you can't see any chunks around the side as it's processing.

The ingredients are pretty complicated. Ready?

Ingredients:
Pitted dates
Water

The amount of each you need will depend on the size container you are using. I used a small Mason jar, but any container with a tight fitting lid will work.

Directions:
Pick your jar. You're going to pack the dates in, so use one to fit the amount of dates you plan to use.

Pack jar with dates. You don't want them smashed in there, but there shouldn't be big gaps. Leave a little headspace at the top of the jar.

Fill jar with just enough water to cover the dates. If you need a "speed" method (i.e. there's a recipe calling for date paste you need to make RIGHT NOW and your date paste is gone) fill with very hot water; if you have time to soak overnight use tepid water.

Seal jar and let soak: a minimum of one hour for speed method and at least overnight for the I Ain't No Procrastinator! method.

When dates are done soaking, pour the contents of the jar into your food processor. Yes, that means dates and the soaking water. Turn food processor on high. Watch it go. Watch it some more. Go little dates, go! Stop every few minutes (and yes, I literally mean minutes) and scrape the sides and bottom to pull up any little date pieces that want to stick. Turn it back on. Step back. Watch it. Watch it go. Spin baby, spin! And now, after a few more minutes, you may stop and scrape again. Continue processing and scraping until the remaining product is completely smooth and you can't see any little date pieces. The time will vary widely depending on a number of factors - how dry the dates were to start, how powerful your food processor is, how tightly you packed the dates, how long you soaked, etc. Mine was done in around 8 minutes.

Store date paste in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and use in your favorite recipes.