Think you can’t have caramel sauce on a healthy diet? You absolutely can with this raw vegan date caramel sauce. It’s sweetened with only dates and lucuma powder. No white sugar or diary. It’s also super easy and fast to make! Perfect to keep in your refrigerator, so you can pour it all over something. Also great for dipping fruits and vanilla macaroons, or drizzling over banana ice cream, chia pudding or overnight apple cinnamon oatmeal.
In this recipe I use medjool dates and lucuma powder. Medjool dates are larger in size than normal dates, and are sweeter and richer in taste, almost having a caramel like flavor on their own. So if you have a choice, definitely opt for the medjool dates when at the store.
Lucuma powder is a powder made from dehydrated lucuma, a Peruvian fruit. It’s a healthy low glycemic sweetener, packed with beta-carotene, iron, zinc, vitamin B3, calcium and protein. Lucuma has a slight caramel like taste and mild sweetness. Great for using it in raw food recipes when you want the caramel-y flavor. You can find it in health food stores like Whole Foods, but if not, you can order it online. Here’s a link from Amazon if you’re interested.
You don’t need to buy lucuma powder just to make this recipe. You don’t use a lot of it, so just skip the lucuma if you don’t have it on hand.
To make this golden caramel sauce, first soak the dates if they are firm, or if you don’t own a high speed blender like Vitamix or Blendtec. Keep the “soak” water, as you will be using it later instead of plain water. Once the dates are soft, add all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth. If you prefer a thinner consistency, add more water until you reach the desired thickness. Be careful to add small amounts at a time. If you water it down too much, adjust the sweetness by adding maple syrup. That’s it!! How easy is that?
Sprinkle some sea salt, and you can have a salted caramel sauce!
It’s so simple but I love dipping fruits like sliced apples and bananas. Makes a great pick me up snack.
I also enjoy drizzling it over banana ice cream, chia puddings, and overnight apple cinnamon oatmeal. In this picture, I swapped out the apples from the overnight apple cinnamon oatmeal, and topped it with sliced bananas, chopped walnuts, and drizzled caramel sauce.
Pour it over anything that goes with caramel sauce, and you’ll be a happy camper! Enjoy!
- ½ cups Medjool dates
- ½ cup water (soak water for dates)
- ¼ ripe avocado
- 1 teaspoon lucuma powder or mesquite powder (optional)
- ½ teaspoon non-alcohol vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- If the dates you are using are firm, or if you don't own a high speed blender like Vitamix or Blendtec, soak them in water for about an hour, until they soften. Keep the soak water, as you will be using it instead of plain water.
- Once the dates are soft, add all the ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth. If you prefer a thinner consistency, add more water until you reach the desired thickness. If you watered it down, adjust the sweetness by adding some maple syrup.
- Store in an air-tight container.
Keeps for 5 days in the refrigerator.
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