Chocolate Date Spread or Sauce

I love homemade gifts for the holidays. I make a variety of craft gifts (jewelry, belts and soap) and food gifts, too. I like to give tins of cookies and candies to friends and neighbors. A gift that I'm giving this year is homemade Chocolate Date Spread. It's delicious, different and a little healthier than most goodies from this time of year. 

Coffee really takes chocolate flavor up a notch, so I soak the dates in coffee instead of water to soften them in this recipe. I have a high-speed blender, and it really makes a smooth paste, but a food processor or standard blender will also work.

You can spread this Chocolate Date Spread on cookies, graham crackers, or toast. If you heat it, it becomes a luscious chocolate sauce to dip fruit or pour over ice cream.

Pack the sauce into clean jars and refrigerate it until gifting. Make sure your recipients know that it needs to stay refrigerated upon receipt. It will stay good in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Chocolate Date Spread or Sauce (vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, nondairy)

Makes approximately 3/4 cup of sauce

Ingredients:

• 9-10 medjool dates, pitted
• 1 cup hot coffee (decaf is fine)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• dash salt

Preparation:

1. Soak dates for one hour in coffee.
2. Puree all ingredients together in food processor or blender

Happy Cooking!
Kim

My new book,  Ancient Grains: A Guide to Cooking with Power-Packed Millet, Oats, Spelt, Farro, Sorghum & Teff (Superfoods for Life), is available now! You can also find tasty recipes in  Super Seeds and Welcoming Kitchen: 200 Delicious Allergen- & Gluten-Free Vegan Recipes.