‘Tis the season for sticky, caramel-covered apples.
However, if making your own caramel apples sounds a bit messy and complicated, perhaps you’d prefer making a quick caramel dip instead. This particular caramel dip is raw and naturally-sweetened, made with fiber-rich Medjool dates. A definite upgrade from traditional recipes calling for butter, sugar and corn syrup!
With a hint of sea salt, this dip pairs perfectly with freshly sliced apples or pears, and would also make an excellent topping drizzled over your favorite Fall baked goods.
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Salted Raw Caramel Dip
makes about 1 cup
Inspired by this recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup soft Medjool dates, pitted
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup almond milk, plus extra for desired texture
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
optional: 1 cup soaked cashews or almonds
Directions:
If you’re using a standard blender or food processor, I recommend soaking the dates in filtered water for 2 to 3 hours, until soft. If you own a powerful blender, like the Vitamix, there’s no need to soak–> it will pulverize the dates easily!
Combine all of the ingredients in the blender, and blend until smooth and creamy, adding extra almond milk if necessary to facilitate blending.
Adjust flavors to taste, and chill before serving.
Note: For an extra-creamy caramel dip, add 1 cup of soaked cashews or almonds to the mix before blending. Omitting the nuts makes this recipe fruit-based and easier to digest, but the nuts do create a more authentic, creamy caramel texture.
Serve with sliced fruit, or thin with extra water to drizzle over baked goods.
- 1 cup soft Medjool dates , pitted
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt , or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup almond milk , plus extra for desired texture
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
- optional: 1 cup soaked cashews or almonds
- If you're using a standard blender or food processor, begin by soaking the dates in filtered water for 2 to 3 hours, until soft. If you own a powerful blender, like the Vitamix, there's no need to soak--> it will pulverize the dates easily!
- Combine all of the ingredients in the blender, and blend until smooth and creamy, adding extra almond milk, if necessary, to facilitate blending.
- Adjust flavors to taste, and chill before serving.
- Serve with sliced fruit, or thin with extra water to drizzle over baked goods. Will keep chilled in the fridge for up to 3 days.
For an extra-creamy caramel dip, add 1 cup of soaked cashews or almonds before blending.
Hope you enjoy!
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Reader Feedback: Do you look forward to caramel apples, or caramel dip? I’ve always been a little nervous about biting into caramel-dipped apples myself, thanks to that sticky coating– I’m scared I’ll break a tooth! Luckily, caramel dip suits me just fine.
Tara
This caramel was out of this world amazing! I used Deglet Noor dates rather than Medjool, and I did not add any nuts. And I love it. My husband loves it. Our son wouldn’t love it, but I’m hiding it for now! ? I cannot wait to try with apples or with banana ice cream, but by the spoonful = awesome! Thank you so much for this absolute winner of a recipe!
Joella Molson
I hacked this a bit with whatever dates I had in the pantry and organic soy milk. I didn’t even use my blender, just used my handheld immersion model. Worked great and It was divine tasting. This with apple slices killed my sweet craving and didn’t leave me with “sugar guilt”. This would be awesome on toast with almond butter. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.