Date Paste has found its way into your kitchen, and the next step is putting it to work with some easy raw recipes. With the bragging rights of easily making this sweetener from scratch, it’s truly a priceless staple where raw food is concerned. Don’t believe me? Here’s just a few easy and tasty ways you can put this raw homemade sweetener to work in your daily meals:
Pineapple Green Smoothie: 2.5 c packed spinach leaves, 2 c banana (or roughly 3 large bananas), 2 c froz. pineapple chunks, 1 c froz. mango chunks, 1 c froz. strawberry, 4 heaping tbsp Date Paste, 3 c coconut water (or regular filtered water) Puree! Makes roughly 7 cups – if your blender container is smaller, you may want to split this recipe in half.
Fluffy Chocolate Almond Butter: 1 c almonds (soaked overnight), 1/4 c Addicted to Veggies Sour Cream, 1/2 c Date Paste, 3 tbsp cacao powder, 1 tsp vanilla. Place all of your ingredients into your food processor and puree for 3 minutes until whipped. Enjoy with fresh fruit, on your favorite flax crackers or by the heaping spoonful (I won’t tell).
Sweet Mustard Sauce: In a small bowl, combine 4 tbsp mustard, 3 tbsp Date Paste, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic granules, 3 tbsp water, salt & pepper to taste. Whisk everything together. Enjoy this as a dip for veggies or as salad dressing or with your favorite chopped veggies in a lettuce wrap.
In today’s recipe, you get to see this lovely sweetener incorporated into a simple yet delectable cobbler – but don’t think the possibilities stop there. We’ve only just begun…
Warm Strawberry Cobbler
Yields 2 servings made in 5’’ Ramekins
Step 1: The Sauce and Filling
Slice 2.5 cups strawberries
For the sauce, you will only need 1/2 cup strawberries – reserve the remaining strawberries for the filling.
Into your food processor combine the following:
- 1/2 c sliced strawberries
- 1/4 c Date Paste
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
1. Puree for roughly 30 seconds, until you have a creamy sweet sauce.
2. Transfer your sauce to a mixing bowl containing 2 cups of sliced strawberries and mix well.
3. Cover your sauce, set it aside and move on to the next step.
Step 2: Making your Cobbler Crust
Into your food processor, combine the following:
- 1/4 c dry cashews
- 1/4 c dry almonds
1. Process your nuts until they are evenly ground into a meal.
2. Add to your ground nuts:
- 2 tbsp Date Paste
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
3. Pulse chop the above ingredients 4 to 5 times, or until the *Date paste is evenly distributed.
4. Transfer your crust to a piece of parchment paper and proceed to flatten it out to roughly 1/4’’ thickness.
5. The next step is up to you — how do you want to cut/shape your crust?
6. I decided to use some pie crust cutters for fun, but cookie cutters or scoring your crust dough will also work.
Step 3: Warming/Drying your Crust and Cobbler filling
This step can be done in the dehydrator for the same time and heat noted below
1. On a large parchment-lined baking sheet, place your cobbler crust and your ramekins with cobbler filling.
2. Set your oven at its very lowest heat.
3. Leave the oven door cracked open roughly 5 to 6 inches.
4. Place your cobbler and crust into the oven and leave it to warm for 1 hour
Important Warming Note:
You can monitor your oven’s heat by using a thermometer and gently resting it on top of either your crust or cobbler filling, checking every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure that your oven temperature never exceeds 118 °F, or 47.78 °.
When your cobbler and crust have finished warming, the only thing left to do is place the crust on top and serve it.
One Final Recipe Note
Not everyone may have fresh ripe strawberries at hand, in which case you can use just about any fresh fruit you’d like. Try making an Apple Cobbler by adding a pinch of allspice and ground nutmeg to your sliced apples, or a Mango Cobbler with a fresh pineapple or orange juice.
