10 Date Paste Recipes: Irresistible Creations to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

One of the first questions you get from your customers after you sell them date paste is “what can I make with it?” We always recommend our clients to learn about the important features of this date product, and have some common date paste recipes ready to share. This article will help you with both.

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More Than Just a Sugar Alternative

Date paste is a natural sweetener and a great substitute for sugar in many recipes. It’s an excellent choice for health-conscious individuals, for people who avoid artificial sugar, and for those suffering from diabetes. There is almost a date paste benefit for everyone caring about his/her health  through a simple date-based recipe in one way or another.  

We already mentioned the use of date paste as a sugar substitute. But date paste actually brings more than a sweet taste to your food. It adds chewy texture, structure and nutrients to snacks and desserts as we will see here. Some of the date paste benefits for food producers include fine texture, low moisture, color diversity, reasonable price, happy customers, and accessibility and versatility. One of the most common ways to apply dates to snacks is the production of protein bars with da te paste. For consumers, it brings easy digestion, fiber, antioxidants and a healthier physical body. And this is why the market for date-based protein bars and snacks is expected to grow.

Most Common Date Paste Recipes

Try these easy but delicious recipes for a taste of date paste. Most of them need less than an hour or even half an hour to complete. Some recipes may work as well with chopped dates (date pieces) but we recommend using date paste for a smooth consistency.

1. Date Paste Muffins

Many consider these the healthiest date muffins as they have no added sugar or fat. They can be dairy free and vegan. They are also moist, tender, and a great solution to help you start the day on the right foot. As date paste is high in fiber, date muffins can keep you going for long periods of time. 

There are as many variations to date muffins as there are fruits. Date muffins with pecan and orange date muffins are pretty common.
Even the pickiest person is going to love carrot date muffins as the sweetness is mostly extracted from dates and carrots.

2. Cookies with Date Paste

This recipe also uses date paste instead of refined sugar. Date works really well for recipes that are already a little dense, like these cookies. They have a strong taste and flavor that stands out, so many recipes involving dates also include other ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners, or emulsifiers, such as this date peanut butter cookies. You can also use chopped dates (date pieces) in your recipe to create date chips cookies.

3. Fudgy Date Paste Brownies

These date brownies take about 30 minutes to bake. They are a great alternative for anyone cutting processed sugar out of their diet. Instead of sugar they contain a paste or puree made from sweet and chewy dates. This way you can cook healthy, tasting brownies with date paste. 

4. Scuffins with Date Paste Recipe

This recipe is a cross between muffins and scones but a little drier and chewier than both. They are so delicious, making the perfect taste for fall. Date paste replaces maple syrup in the original recipe. Apple cinnamon and date scuffins is the most common recipe. It creates scuffines that aren’t super sweet and have a hint of tartness.

5. Date Paste Energy/Protein Bars and Balls

Date energy balls are also called date energy bites. Dates are wholesome ingredients rich in fiber, healthy fats, protein and lots of vitamins. Nuts are often added to the recipe to make protein bars, a perfect snack for post workouts or almost any time of the day. Date paste acts as a binding agent and sweetener to replace sugar in balls.

6. Cheesecake with Date Paste

Baked date cheesecake is probably everyone’s favorite as it is luscious and tangy and rich and good. The most common date cheesecake recipe includes coconut yogurt filling and oats for crumbly texture. It is often considered the BEST vegan gluten-free for two key reasons: it’s tender and browns beautifully, and the presence of date paste and oats separately creates a crumbly texture like cookies not chunky like a granola bar.

7. Old-Fashioned Date Squares 

Imagine a gooey filling of sweet date ingredients sandwiched between two buttery layers of oatmeal crust. That is what this date paste recipe is about. Old-fashioned date squares make a perfect snack for school lunches and a comforting treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee on those cold winter days.. 

The recipe can be made gluten-free by easily swapping out the oatmeal for gluten-free oatmeal and the regular flour for almond flour. It can also be made vegan by swapping regular butter for dairy-free vegan butter sticks.

The date squares recipe delivers layered date squares. These date-based date squares consist of two layers of oat crumbles with one layer of sweet date filling in between. This makes them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

8. Hot Chocolate with Date Paste Recipe

Baked date cheesecake is probably everyone’s favorite as it is luscious and tangy and rich and good. The most common date cheesecake recipe includes coconut yogurt filling and oats for crumbly texture. Some people say it is the BEST vegan gluten-free for two key reasons. It’s tender and browns beautifully, and the presence of date paste and oats separately creates a crumbly texture like cookies not chunky like a granola bar.

9. WFPB Pizza Dough/Crust

Plant based pizza is most people’s favorite. It has a simple recipe that needs whole grain flour, date paste and a few other ingredients. Mix these ingredients until you get a sticky dough. The rest is the same as instruction for other pizzas. It is vegan and very delicious.

10. Chocolate Cake with Date Paste Recipe

This recipe isn’t as easy to make as it looks. If you are not used to making sugar-free desserts, you may have difficulty getting the portions right. The problem arising when you omit the sugar is that you may end up with a dry texture, since sugar holds the moisture. 

Egg yolks offer moisture without melting out of the cake.  
Additionally, date paste tends to be sticky and create a dense cake. You can add  vinegar to the batter to activate the leavening agents and get a good rise even with a heavy batter.

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Conclusion

Date is often compared to, and often substitutes sugar in recipes. We discussed some of the most common date paste recipes in this article. There are lots of other applications you can find for this delicious fruit paste. 

Talk about your experiences with date ingredients in the comment section below.

FAQ

Pics: www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-baked-stuffed/wfpb-pizza-crust-oil-free-vegan-recipe/