Scene – Giant Supermarket, produce aisle

Peaches: Good afternoon ma’am …

Employee: Good afternoon! How can I help you?

Peaches: Do you know where I can find dates?

Employee: Ha, that’s funny – I was just thinking I could sure use a date!

Peaches: {Well this is awkward. Okay smile. But not too hard. And Warmly} !-)

This is a 100% accurate transaction that happened last year. It is safe to say I never forgot it. Or forgot where to locate dates in a large supermarket (I seriously cannot remember where the whip cream is located however!). But dates are located near the nuts and dried fruit! I feel I should get a pass because I never used the “large raisins before”. And they are my star ingredient for my Vegan Hot Chocolate! 

Ever since that encounter in the supermarket, dates and I have become inextricably intertwined. I mean, holy diabetes they are sweet! And I love my sweets. I will not deny. Thankfully, according to NIH:
“The protein in dates contains 23 types of amino acids, some of which are not present in the most popular fruits such as oranges, apples and bananas. Dates contain at least six vitamins including a small amount of vitamin C, and vitamins B(1) thiamine, B(2) riboflavin, nicotinic acid (niacin) and vitamin A. The dietary fiber of 14 varieties of dates has been shown to be as high as 6.4-11.5% depending on variety and degree of ripeness.”
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12850886

Wow! Good reason to always keep some dates around the house, eh? I was glad I had them one chilly fall day when I was craving hot cocoa. See, I am on a quest to kick added sugar out of my diet, without totally eradicating all things sweet. So I am always on the hunt for natural sweeteners. Enter the date. What a perfect sweetener for my hot cocoa! Here are all of the ingredients I used:

– 10 medium sized dates or 8 Medjool dates (pitted for either)

-4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

-1 ½ teaspoons raw cacao powder (look in dried fruit aisle of Whole Food for this!)

-1 cup vegan chocolate chips

*Medium size saucepan

*Meshed strainer

*High speed blender (I used my Nutribullet)

I was making a batch for myself as well as my 5 and 3 year old. What I did was

1. Brought unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cacao powder, and chocolate chips, to a weak, rolling boil. May have to stir to ensure chocolate chips do not stick.

2. Turned fire down, added dates and let simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Turned fire off and carefully added contents of pot into my Nutribullet. The container will be hot so handle with oven mitt if need be!

4. Blended contents for about a good minute. Stop. Removed canister from base and swirled canister around to ensure dates were as broken up as possible. Blend again if necessary.

5. Uncorked NutriBullet canister and set aside. Grab strainer and hold over saucepan, pour contents to NutriBullet in saucepan. If you’re using a Ninja you may not have and bits of dates left in your mixture. I find this step helpful to catch those strays not pulverized by my NutirBullet!

6. Ladle your hot chocolate into your favorite mug and enjoy!

Have you tried this? Do you love it? Did you hate it? Let me know!