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    Home » Recipes

    How To Soften Dates For Recipes (NO Equipment)

    Published: Aug 30, 2021 · Modified: Jun 21, 2022 by Lauren · This post may contain affiliate links · 2 Comments

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    How To Soften Dates For Recipes (NO Equipment) - This is a quick method to revive stale, hard dates so that you can use them in smoothies and other recipes.

    How to soften dates for use in recipes

    While I am currently NOT eating dates, I still buy many of them for the other members of my family.

    The kids love them in smoothies, in particular, so we keep a batch of softened dates in our fridge.

    Oftentimes, the girls will go to make a smoothie recipe with dates, but the dates I've bought are hard. If you've ever tried to blend a hard or even semi-hard date, you know it doesn't blend correctly. You end up with tiny bites of date throughout the smoothie instead of a general sweetness.

    Well, the method below solves that problem, and you don't need a food processor or blender to do it!

    These days, most people have blenders and processors, but I know for me, it's so nice to not have to drag it out and clean it.

    Softened dates for smoothies

    This is not the most innovative technique, I admit, but it is one I employ quite often, so I thought I'd post it here.

    By no means am I making date paste or 'butterizing' the dates, rather just employing a quick trick to soften them.

    Once they are softened, they can be kept in a glass container for future use. The fridge doesn't ruin the 'softness', which is great, so you don't have to repeat the process each time!

    Here are a few of the recipes to use softened dates in:

    Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

    Creamy Dijon Date Dressing

    Date-Sweetened Chocolate Sauce

    Banana-Free Chocolate Milkshake

    Chocolate Sunbutter Smoothie

    How to soften dates for use in recipes
    Print Recipe
    5 from 1 vote

    How To Soften Dates For Recipes (NO Equipment)

    This is a quick method to revive stale, hard dates so that you can use them in smoothies and other recipes.
    Prep Time5 mins
    Cook Time5 mins
    Rest Time:20 mins
    Total Time30 mins
    Course: Condiment
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Grain-free, Paleo, Vegan
    Calories: 128kcal

    Equipment

    2-Quart Saucepan
    Medjool Dates

    Ingredients

    • 1 - 1 ¼ pound dates I typically use Medjool
    • 1 cup water

    Instructions

    • Remove seed and 'hat' from all dates.
    • Add water then dates into a saucepan.
    • Bring them to a boil.
    • As soon as it reaches a boil, turn off the burner.
    • Let the dates sit for 10-20 minutes in the pan.
    • Use as desired or keep in a glass container in your fridge for future use.

    Notes

    Nutrition facts are based on 10 servings in a pound of dates, which amounts to around 2-3 dates.
    WW Points: 7

    Nutrition

    Sugar: 28.7g | Fiber: 3.6g | Calories: 128kcal | Fat: 0.2g | Protein: 1.1g | Carbohydrates: 34g

    Notes:

    The boiling process will yield some yummy syrup, which I also keep in the same container.

     

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    Filed Under: Healthy Desserts

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Lyf

      September 25, 2021 at 2:44 am

      This is ingenious. Thanks Lauren!

      Reply
    2. June

      August 31, 2021 at 1:19 pm

      Great tip, Lauren!

      Reply

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    Hi there, I'm Lauren Goslin, and I've been a food blogger for over ten years. My goal with this blog is to show you healthy, lower sugar recipes that my family and I enjoy.

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