Recipe - Almond Sticky Date, Gluten Free

To follow yesterdays article about alternative sweeteners I thought a recipe using rapadura would be a good idea. This particular recipe is one I developed from an ordinary sticky date pudding recipe.

Why was I changing the original recipe? My family need to follow a strict gluten free diet. After much experimentation I have come up with a few things that really work well in the baked goods department. This is one of them. They will keep fresh for weeks in the refrigerator, if they don't get eaten first. In fact they get nicer with age which is a bit unusual in terms of gluten free baked goods.

Almond Sticky Date

Boil together 500 gram (17 ozs) chopped dates and 2/3 cup water.
Then add 2 1/2 teaspoons bi carbonate soda and leave for 5 minutes. Mash with a fork. (I have forgotten to mash them and it still worked)

Beat 5 eggs (6 if small) with a fork. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup rapadura (use honey or other sweetener if desired). Adjust the amount to your taste.
Add 1/2 cup coconut oil. Mix all these together.
Stir in 2 1/2 cups (20 ozs or 250 gram) almond meal.
Stir in dates.

Spoon into muffin cases and cook in 170-180 degree C oven for 30 minutes In Fahrenheit degrees that would be about 335-350 degrees.

Notes to clarify some points

I know that doesn't seem like much water to boil the dates in but it is right. You don't need to boil them for long. Just bring them up to the boil and the water is pretty much evaporated and it is time to take them off.

I use coconut oil in nearly all my baking and love it. If you prefer you could use butter instead or whatever you normally use for shortening. I am sure it would work satisfactorily.

Experiment with the amount of sweetening you need. Dates are quite sweet in themselves. When I first made these I used half a cup now I only use a quarter of a cup.

I hope you enjoy them. They are fairly easy to make. The most time consuming part is chopping the dates and grinding the almonds to make almond meal.

Jocelyn