How to Make Date Paste – Super Easy Recipe

Why You Should Use Date Paste in Your Baking

If you have kids and you ever bake, you know the tug-of-war feeling of wanting to make a fun treat for your family while also wanting to feed their little bodies with nothing but the best. But when you naturally sweeten your baked goods and treats with dates, you can have the best of both worlds! To begin naturally sweetening treats with dates, you just need to learn how to make date paste – which is super easy.

Using dates is literally using fruit to sweeten your homemade treats – and this fruit has many health benefits. You don’t have to worry about dates spiking your children’s blood sugar or leading to the inevitable crash after a sugar high. Despite how sweet they are, dates are low glycemic.

Dates also contain fiber, potassium, copper, calcium and many other nutrients. Did you know that one date has almost as much calcium as a tablespoon of milk? Your child can get 120 mg of calcium from eating eight dates compared to 152 mg of calcium from 8 oz of milk. Eight dates might sound like a lot, but it’s quite easy to consume that many dates when it’s the sweetener for a cookie or two.

Once you boil and puree dates down into a paste, you can pack a whole lot of energy into delectable treats, like chocolate chip cookie dough energy balls sweetened with date paste.

There are so many health benefits to consuming dates – why wouldn’t you use them as an all natural sweetener in your kids’ desserts, breakfasts and snacks?

Oh, wait. I know why you might still be hesitant to use dates as your new whole food sweetener. Because you have a picky eater who doesn’t like the taste of dates.

So do I. But you know what? She loves the treats I make that are sweetened with date paste … because she can’t even tell that there are dates in them!

My famous chocolate chip cookies, lemon thumbprint jam cookies, chocolate milkshake and chocolate cheesecake energy balls are just a few examples of mouth-watering treats I make with date paste, and my date-averse daughter can’t resist them.

So even if your children don’t like dates, don’t let that deter you from baking with them. They are capable of producing so much more than their own individual flavor.

Ways You Can Use Date Paste

There are so many things you can make with date paste.

Use it to make strawberry popsicles, chocolate chip cookies, energy balls and so much more.

One of my favorite ways to use date paste is when I’m baking cookies. Date paste is perfect for sweetening cookies without making them overly sweet. It is also great for creating a good structure for cookies. Date paste is moist but it also has some body to it. The end result is cookies that are perfectly textured with just the right amount of sweetness.

These light and soft chocolate cookies are made with date paste and they have been a huge hit with my kids and their friends.

Homemade date paste is also great for sweetening muffins. You will get a more subtle sweetness than you would with maple syrup, and the flavor of the muffin will be able to shine beautifully.

I used to think that muffins sweetened with date paste might not be sweet enough for kids. But my kids and their friends have proven me wrong. They love the muffins I have made with date paste.

And don’t forget cakes and cupcakes. While I often sweeten my cakes and cupcakes with maple syrup, sometimes I use date paste which also yields a great result. This is an especially good choice when making a cake for a baby or young toddler for whom excessive sweetness is not necessary or beneficial.

And, as I already mentioned, I also love to use date paste for making energy balls. I love date paste for energy balls partly for the energy they contain, but also because date paste has a great consistency for making balls that are soft but still hold together.

Ingredients

• Medjool Dates: For this date paste DIY recipe, you will obviously need some dates. Medjool dates are the best and preferable option because they are very sweet and moist. However, you can certainly make date paste with other types of dates as well. Shop at a middle eastern grocery store, ebay, Amazon, Thrive or other online stores for Medjool dates.

• Water: Water is the only other ingredient you need to make this incredibly easy date paste recipe. Even though it will seem like you are boiling all of the water back out that you originally put in, it is essential to boil the dates in water to soften and moisturize them enough to be blendable.

Instructions

Step 1

Measure out your dates. It is most accurate to measure in weight, so that is my default measurement method in the recipe card below. However, you can select to measure by volume instead if you prefer.

Step 2

Add dates to a medium-size pot.

Step 3

Add enough water to the pot to cover the dates. The exact amount does not matter. The goal is simply to add moisture to the dates and heat them to make them nice and soft. Most of the water will be evaporating back out.

Step 4

Heat on high until the water is boiling. Continue to boil and stir frequently until all extra liquid is evaporated. The dates should be softened enough that they are beginning to mash just from stirring them.

Step 5

Once the excess water is evaporated, turn off the heat and allow the dates to cool slightly.

Step 6

After 10 minutes of cooling, use an emersion blender to puree the dates into a smooth paste.

Step 7

Once completely cooled, store in an airtight container in the fridge or use immediately in a recipe.

Substitutions & Tips

• I highly recommend using Medjool dates if you can for the best result, but you can definitely make date paste with other kinds of dates as well. If you cannot get Medjool dates, don’t worry. Use whatever dates you can get your hands on.

• Try to boil out as much liquid as you can before turning off the heat, but don’t risk burning the dates either. Remember, the goal is not to get the dates to a dry state. It is simply to eliminate excess liquid.

• The amount of dates you use to make date paste can vary depending on weight. Even in measuring out 1 cup of packed Medjool dates for making date paste, I have gotten different numbers on weight. One cup of packed Medjool dates (1 batch of this recipe) will likely be right around 200-250 grams.

Don’t worry about the exact weight as this recipe is only a guide to teach you how to make date paste. The more important measurement is when you measure out the finished paste for your baked goods.

• When measuring out date paste for a recipe, remember that the volume can differ vastly depending on how much liquid remains in the date paste. Measuring in weight is still the best measurement, but keep in mind that it might look like a different amount from one batch of date paste to another.

• When date paste has been sitting for a day or so, whatever liquid remains will separate in the container. Just give it a quick mix before measuring out your date paste for a recipe.

• If you won’t be using your date paste within a week, it’s a good idea to add a pinch of salt to the paste to help prevent bacteria growth.

• Alternative to making your own date paste from scratch, you can also purchase date paste from Amazon or Middle Eastern stores. However, store-bought date paste is thicker with less moisture in it. So if you want to mix it into a batter, you will need to boil it to soften and loosen it up. But you will not have to puree it like you do when using whole dates.