Salted Caramel Apple Dip

Salted Caramel Dip

Adapted from Sarah Britton by Blue Heron Kitchen

Sweet, nutritious alchemy: a simple five-ingredient (six, counting water), easy to put together dip that's not just for apples. Begin with apples. 

Use it as a dip, on pancakes or waffles, or if you make it thicker, you can use it as a frosting, or as a base for a raw tart: Spread it on a raw or baked tart shell and adorn it with poached or raw fruit. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.  It's easy, adaptable, healthful and so yummy.

Child-friendly: Offer them this dip, and your kids will choose apples! Try it with fennel, celery or other veggies. 

Nut allergies? Use “Wow Butter” or tahini.

At home, I make my own nut butters in my Vitamix. If you want to do this, buy roasted and unsalted nuts. Trader Joe’s is an inexpensive and reliable resource in America.  A high speed, powerful blender, like a Vitamix, will transform the nuts into creamy nut butter in a couple of minutes. Some recipes tell you to add oil. I don't. Cashew butter will harden in the fridge, but I still don't add oil. Store in your refrigerator. Ta-da! Cashew butter is probably the best choice for the ‘cleanest’ taste, but any of these nut or seed butters will produce a great dip. 

With a "power" blender, nut butters are a snap to make, but I’ve never produced tahini that tastes good. My favorite tahini is the house brand at Kalustyan’s on Lexington Avenue in New York City. (You can mail order from this great store!)

Medjool dates are a must. Buy more than you need and snack on a few every day. They're heaven. Trader Joe's is, again, a great resource.

Supermarkets and specialty stores are charging you too much for vanilla beans. Try Amazon and buy them in bulk. You can store them airtight and replace vanilla extract. After you've scraped out the inside stuff, stick the pod into some sugar and you'll have aromatic vanilla sugar for your butter cookies! You'll begin to adapt to using beans in other recipes and desserts. These will cost a fraction of what you'll pay for two little beans in a test tube. 

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Salted Caramel Dip

Prep time: Four (or more) hours, for soaking dates.

Ingredients:

2 cups pitted Medjool dates (Medjool are the ONLY choice for this recipe.)

¼ cup raw nut or seed butter (almond, cashew, sesame tahini, sunflower)

4 tsp. fresh lemon juice

½ tsp. sea salt (or more to taste)

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

soaking water as needed

Procedure:

1. Soak dates for at least 4 hours in water.

2. Drain dates, reserving the soak water.

3. With all ingredients, add dates to a Vitamix or food processor. Blend on high until dates are smooth. Add soaking water, 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached – thicker for dip, thinner for sauce. 
4. Store in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to a week.