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.

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.

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:

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

Cook Time5

Rest Time:20

Total Time30

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

Notes:

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

How To Soften Dates For Recipes (NO Equipment)

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