More and more I see date paste popping up in recipes as a natural filler or sweetener for,for example, granola bars.
Unfortunately dates are a no-eat for a low fodmapper like myself.
These recipes look very interesting though so what to do?
Challenge accepted.....what could I think of to replace the date paste?
Cranberry paste, yes why not!
Of course there are no fresh cranberries available in the stores now ,so I'll have to make due with dried cranberries.
Reading the labels on the dried cranberries nearly made me re-consider my choice though.
I was astounded to find out that nearly all dried cranberries have added sugars up to 70 grams per 100 grams of product (!!!), wow!
How's that for a natural healthy snack.
Nope, no good for me, I want as little added sugar as possible (as you may know by now).
Luckily my husband was in the States last week and on his shopping list was a big bag of reduced sugar dried cranberries from Ocean Spray.
Still some added sugar but a lot more appealing than the regular variety.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/4 cup
Amount Per Serving
Calories 100
Calories from Fat 0
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 0mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 31g 10%
Dietary Fiber 10g 40%
Sugars 14g
Protein 0g
VitaminA0%
VitaminC0%
Calcium0%
Iron0%
Phosphorus 0%
Magnesium0%
Folate 0%
Unfortunately I have not found a store in Europe yet who sells these.
Guess I'm hoping my husband will continue to make regular trips to the land of "reduced sugar dried cranberries".
The recipe to make cranberry paste is really very simple:
Ingredients:
Leave them to soak for 10 minutes, drain but keep the liquid.
Using a food blender, blend the cranberries to a paste.
By adding some liquid to the blender you can adjust the thickness of the paste and presto!
Guess I'm hoping my husband will continue to make regular trips to the land of "reduced sugar dried cranberries".
The recipe to make cranberry paste is really very simple:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- boiling water
Leave them to soak for 10 minutes, drain but keep the liquid.
Using a food blender, blend the cranberries to a paste.
By adding some liquid to the blender you can adjust the thickness of the paste and presto!
The Cranberry paste granola bar
After I made the cranberry paste and happy with the result of course I had to put it to good use.
This is the recipe for the no bake cranberry paste granola bar;
Ingredients:
Directions:
I used peanut butter, that gave the bars a distinct peanutty flavor.
Maybe next time I will try to combine two different nutbutters together to create a less distinct flavor.When using salted nutbutter,omit the extra salt in the ingredients list.
We all know making granola bars is a messy job but he......somebody's gotta do it! ;)
This is the recipe for the no bake cranberry paste granola bar;
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cranberry paste (you will need to use 1 1/2 cup dried cranberries to get a cup cranberry paste)
- 1/2 cup of nut butter to your liking,
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 2 cups oats
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup ingredients like seeds, nuts to taste
- cinnamon and salt to taste
Directions:
- Mix nutbutter, cocnut oil and paste in a cooking pan, let it melt and stir together
- Remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients,mix together well
- Line a tray with parchment paper and make sure the mix is evenly distributed on the tray,eventually smoothen it out with a spoon or spatula
- Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight then cut into bars
- Keep the bars in the fridge to keep them nice and solid.
I used peanut butter, that gave the bars a distinct peanutty flavor.
Maybe next time I will try to combine two different nutbutters together to create a less distinct flavor.When using salted nutbutter,omit the extra salt in the ingredients list.
We all know making granola bars is a messy job but he......somebody's gotta do it! ;)
Enjoy and if you find a store that sells my kind of dried cranberries....let me know!