Cashew Butter Stuffed Dates with Dark Chocolate

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This healthy bite-sized dessert is naturally sweetened, requires no baking, and is the ideal summer dessert or snack to satisfy any sweet tooth! The rich caramel taste of the dates pairs perfectly with my homemade coconut vanilla cashew butter. You’re gonna love this one!

WOW. That’s all I can say after taking a bite of these cashew butter stuffed dates. This recipe is super easy to make and can be made with any nut butter of your choice (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter…) These frozen dates are cool and refreshing for those hot summer days when you don’t want to turn the oven on. I love trying new variations of stuffed dates, but let me tell you, nothing beats the taste of these dates with my homemade coconut vanilla cashew butter and drizzled with dark chocolate and a sprinkle of coconut flakes.

This Sweet Date

These Medjool Dates are juicy, plump, and super sweet. They are so good I eat them on their own when I’m craving something sweet and need my candy fix.

When I’m looking to create a dessert recipe that is healthier and contains no added sugars, I usually turn to Medjool Dates. They provide plenty of fiber, as well as essential vitamins and minerals like potassium, B vitamins, iron, and magnesium.

Dates are a concentrated source of natural sugars, giving them a very sweet and caramel-like taste and consistency. While your body does not differentiate between natural sweeteners (like those found in dates, honey, or maple syrup) and added sugars, it is important to recognize that the health benefit to consuming naturally sweetened products doesn’t come from the sugar itself, but rather the other nutritional properties that have been retained. This includes fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that are not present in added sugars.

The bottom line is that while any kind of sugar is still sugar, choosing the naturally derived option means providing your body with plenty of added health benefits that you don’t get with added sugars.

Homemade Coconut Vanilla Cashew Butter

While I usually stick to my favorite brands of nut butter, I decided to try my hand at making my own cashew butter, and it turns out it’s so easy, and can save you some money on your next grocery run!

All you need to make a basic cashew butter is about two cups of raw and unsalted cashews and a food processor! I added some coconut, vanilla, cinnamon, and a dash of coconut sugar to give this cashew butter the attention it deserves, because it is incredible!

What I love most about cashew butter is its versatility. I use it to bake cookies, snack bites, brownies, and so many other desserts. I also like to put cashew butter on my toast in the morning and top it with some fresh fruit. Nut butters provide a good source of healthy, unsaturated fats and will keep you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal. This cashew butter is so good you could eat it by the spoonful as a quick snack!

This cashew butter would work beautifully in place of the almond butter in my healthy chickpea cookie dough recipe or in place of the peanut butter in my green smoothie recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of raw, unsalted cashews
• 1 tablespoon of dried, shredded coconut
• 1/2 tablespoon of coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

The Process

1. The key to making homemade nut butter is to blend the nuts in a high speed food processor for 5-10 minutes in order to allow the nuts to extract their oils, giving you a smooth and creamy consistency.
   1. Make sure to scrape down the sides every once in a while to fully incorporate all of the cashews into the mix. Patience is key! It’ll start to look like the cashews are forming a dough and you might be wondering how it will turn into cashew butter, but I promise it’s worth the wait to get that silky consistency.
2. Once the cashews are processed and you have the consistency of cashew butter that you want, add in the rest of the ingredients (vanilla, coconut sugar, coconut shreds, and cinnamon) and mix it all together with a spoon.
3. You can store this cashew butter in an airtight container in the pantry or keep it in the fridge where it will last for a couple months!

Putting It All Together

To stuff your dates, take a knife and create a slit by slicing the dates down the middle to create a pocket. Fill the dates with half a tablespoon of cashew butter.

Melt a bar of dark chocolate with a little bit of coconut oil in the microwave, taking it out every 30 seconds to stir it and microwave until fully melted.

Once the dates are stuffed, take a spoon and drizzle the dark chocolate over the dates. Sprinkle shredded coconut and a dash of sea salt over top!

These dates can be refrigerated or frozen depending on your preference but I personally love them frozen, especially during the summer!

I hope you guys love this recipe as much as I do, and as always, let me know if you give this a try in the comments and ratings:)

If you like this recipe, make sure to check out some of my other dessert and snack recipes!

• Apple Cinnamon Scones
• Beet Hummus with Whipped Goat Cheese Swirl
• Garlicky White Bean and Basil Dip
• Healthy Carrot Cake Smoothie
• Lemon Turmeric Blueberry Breakfast Loaf