Left-over Ramadan Dates? Date Paste Recipe

With Ramadan over many of us are suffering from too many date syndrome, or simply, lots of left over dates and little ideas to do with them. We had about 4kg left after Ramadan ended and with all the heat and humidity I wanted to keep them from going bad. {Eat and drink but waste not by extravagance, certainly He (Allah) likes not Al-Musrifûn (those who waste by extravagance).} [Quran 7:31]  

 I was really torn with what to do with them but came up with a great solution after baking a really dry cake one day.

DATE PASTE

Date paste is just amazing.  It packs all the nutrients of dates in a easy to store much smaller size. Date paste is useful in baking, as a marinade for meat, sauces, spreads, and I've even used it in a recipe for orange sesame chicken.  It is sweet and tangy and has many health benefits.  

In baking I use it as an oil or butter substitute.  It makes a super moist cake that is also healthy!  Yes, I said it, healthy cake!

Date paste does take a little work to make but is well worth it.

NOTE: The amount of dates you use isn't important in this recipe at all.  It can be made as a single serving or larger batches to can or freeze. 

Ingredients:

• Dates
• Water
• vanilla to taste (optional)

Directions:

1. Split and seed the dates you want to make into paste. I used 2 kg of dates and it took a while.
2. Cover with water and soak dates for at least 3 hours (preferably over night)
3. Drain dates but do not discard of the water you used to soak them.
4. Add dates to food processor and add about 1/3 of the soaking water. 
5. Continue blending adding water when necessary until you have a thick applesauce consistency. Add vanilla if you choose. 
6. Allow to cool fully before eating.  If canning add to sanitized canning jars while hot and seal off immediately. 

Good in unsealed container in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.
Good canned and frozen for 6+ months.

Enjoy!