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The Ultimate Vegan Date-Sweetened Roundup (65 recipes!)

March 21, 2016 · Natalie 38 Comments

Dates are by far my favorite way to sweeten anything and everything! Blend ’em, stuff ’em, sneak ’em in under the guise of chocolate–anytime I can use those gooey sweet fruits instead of sugar I will. But I’m not the only one who loves creating date-sweetened treats, so I asked other bloggers to share their favorite recipes that use dates as the source of sweetness. And whoa do we have lots of creativity going on here!

From drinks to desserts, breakfasts to healthy on-the-go bites, and even a few sauces and spreads–this post is packed with a little bit of everything from slightly sweet to insanely decadent! All things date-sweet all in one place.

If you don’t have a pack of dates in your kitchen right now then hurry and go stock up because you are going to find something (or many things!) to crave, pin, and want to make ASAP! All of these fruit-sweetened recipes are vegan, many are gluten-free, and most are oil-free too.

Beverages

1. Matcha Made in Heaven by Fried Dandelions

2. Majoon (Banana and Date) Smoothie by Ahead of Thyme

3. Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie by Veggie Inspired

4. Ingredient Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate by Pepper and Peaches

5. Date Sweetened Hazelnut Milk by Elephantastic Vegan

6. Green Power Smoothie by Green Evi

7. Chocolate Almond Chia Seed Smoothie by The Endless Meal

8. Plum Smoothie by The Veggie Sisters

9. Iced Carob Latte by Feasting on Fruit

10. Vegan Homemade Strawberry Milk by Veggies Don’t Bite

Breakfast

11. Cardamom Ginger Millet Bowls by Chronicles of Passion

12. Oil-Free Cinnamon Rolls by Feasting on Fruit

13. Green Chia Pudding by Veggies Save the Day

14. Pumpkin Spice Pancakes by Phruitful Dish

15. Chocolate Banana Avocado Smoothie Bowl by Emilie Eats

16. Carrot Cake Overnight Oats by Veganosity

17. Vanilla Date Breakfast Bars by Feasting on Fruit

18. Going Green Smoothie by A Virtual Vegan

19. Morning Glory Breakfast Muffins by Natural Girl Modern World

20. Magic Porridge Pot by Trinity’s Conscious Kitchen

Healthy Snacks

21. Caramel Apple Swirl Bars by Healthy Helper

22. Tahini Date Raw Snack Balls by Contentedness Cooking

23. Dark Chocolate Orange Rawnola by Vanilla Crunnch

24. Flax Pudding by Win-Win Food

25. Chewy Chocolate Goji Granola Bars by Fresh Off The Grid

26. Gingerbread Granola by Rainbow Nourishments

27. Lemon Millet Bliss Balls by Feasting on Fruit

28. How To Make Granola Bars (just 4 ingredients!) by It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken

29. Ginger Berry Energy Balls by Fit Mitten Kitchen

30. Date-Sweetened Nutty Apple Granola by The Conscientious Eater

31. The Best Little Snack Cookies To Nibble by Healthy Happy Life

Desserts

32. Girls Night Cookies by Hungry Haley

33. Gingerbread Avocado Mousse by Vegan Heaven

34. Dark Chocolate Covered Dates Stuffed with Orange Coconut Cream by Vegetarian Gastronomy

35. Easy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies by Feasting on Fruit

36. Crustless No Bake Rutabaga (Swede) Pie by Vegan Lovlie

37. No Churn Dairy-Free Almond Butter Ice Cream by Unconventional Baker

38. Save The Date Squares by Ashley Madden

39. Raw Apple and Blueberry Tarts by Rainbow Nourishments

40. No Bake Vegan Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookies by Vegan Sandra

41. Vegan White Mulberry Pecan Blondies by Fragrant Vanilla Cake

42. Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Bars by Emilie Eats

43. 5 Ingredient Vegan Turtle Truffles by Veganosity

44. Fruit-Sweetened Pumpkin Pie by Feasting on Fruit

45. Flourless Black Bean Brownies by Chronicles of Passion

46. 5 Ingredient Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies by Carob Cherub

47. Roasted Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream by Craving Nature

48. Raw Goji Cardamom Rose Truffles by Oh Holy Basil

49. Raw Pecan Pie Tartlets by My Darling Vegan

50. Healthy Vegan Red Velvet Cupcakes by Feasting on Fruit

51. Chocolate Orange Protein Brownies by Food Porn Vegan Style

52. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls by Veggies Don’t Bite

53. No Bake Peach Raspberry Crumble by Fitting Into Vegan

54. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies by Fit Mitten Kitchen

55. Vanilla Pretzel Fig Bars by Feasting on Fruit

56. 3 Ingredient HCLF Vegan Fudgsicle Bites by Healthy Helper

57. Snickerdoodle Blizzard by Feasting on Fruit

58. Raw Vegan Fudge Truffles by Well and Full

59. Crazy Fruity Carob Pudding Cake by Unconventional Baker

Dips/Sauces/Spreads

60. Homemade Teriyaki Sauce by Veggie Primer

61. Slow Cooker Salted Date Caramel Apple Butter by Yup It’s Vegan

62. Oil Free French Dressing by Veggie Primer

63. 5 Minute Health(ier) Brownie Batter Dip by Craving Nature

64. Date-Sweetened Homemade BBQ Sauce by Glue and Glitter

65. Fruit-Sweetened Roasted Balsamic Strawberries by Feasting on Fruit

The Ultimate #Vegan Date-Sweetened Roundup! 65 recipes: snacks, desserts, smoothies, more...Click To Tweet

Oil-Free Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan + GF)

March 7, 2016 · Natalie 101 Comments

How have cinnamon rolls gotten by all these years calling themselves breakfast? Cake gets classified as dessert with all it’s sweet layers, but somehow if it’s rolled up rather than stacked up it’s fine for morning time?? Plus cinnamon rolls have filling AND frosting! Two creamy, sweet, normally sugar-laden components yet it’s still allowed before 10 a.m.? It’s a double standard I tell you.

Now these cinnamon rolls, these can reasonably be classified as breakfast. A dough made with sweet potato. A filling made with dates, sugar optional. No oil or gluten. A much healthier morning meal than anything that pops out of a cardboard tube.

Frosting. I just used coconut whipped cream to top these swirly sweet rolls. You could thin out the coconut whipped cream to more of a glaze consistency with non-dairy milk or the liquid from the can of coconut milk. Or you could just blend up a really easy date frosting like I used on the first trial with just dates and water.

Cinnamon rolls are something I’ve been attempting for a while, but I could never get the dough quite right. Inspired by this soft flexy flatbread I discovered that sweet potatoes make for a much more manageable gluten-free dough. And it’s still soft after baking, especially those inside parts that are snuggled next to the delicious date filling!

I do suggest baking them in a muffin pan otherwise they turn into cinnamon blobs instead of rolls.

A spiral of gooey cinnamon caramel wrapped in a soft sweet potato dough perfect to tear apart and eat as sticky layers or even better with a cloud of coconut on top. Now doesn’t that sound enticing…

Oil-Free Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan + GF)

★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 63 minutes
Yield: 8 rolls 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

Sweet potato puree
2 cups diced sweet potato
1.5 cup water
Date paste
16 pitted Medjool dates
1 cup water
Dough
2 cups gluten-free all purpose (I used King Arthur’s GF Blend which is gum-free)
1 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps baking powder
2 tsps apple cider vinegar
1 cup sweet potato puree (above)
3/4 cup date paste (above)
1 tsp cinnamon
Filling
1 cup date paste (above)
1/3 cup coconut sugar (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
Frosting
1 can full fat coconut milk (chilled)
2 tbsps maple syrup or powdered sugar

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Instructions

Sweet potato puree: Combine the sweet potato and water in a sauce pan. Cover and boil until tender. Cool for a few minutes then blend till smooth. Set aside.
Date Paste: Blend the dates and water on high until smooth. Set aside.
Filling: In a bowl, stir together 1 cup of the date paste, the coconut sugar, and the cinnamon.
Dough: In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Gently stir.
Add the the remaining date paste (about 3/4 cup), 1 cup of the sweet potato puree, and the apple cider vinegar. Mix with your hands to form a soft supple dough.
To assemble: Preheat the oven to 350F.
Press/roll out the dough on a piece of wax paper to about 1/2 inch thickness. Try to keep it as rectangular as possible.
Sprinkle the side facing up with flour. Cover with another sheet of wax paper and flip so the flour side is down. This will ensure it doesn’t stick as you roll.
Standing at one of the long sides, spread the filling on the 2/3 of the dough closest to you.
Using the wax paper to help you roll, roll the dough to form one long log. (See video if you are confused)
Slice off the tapered ends, then slice the log into 8 rolls.
Transfer the rolls to the muffin pan (lightly oiled) and bake for 16-18 minutes at 350F.
Frosting: Open the can and spoon out the solid part. Whip with the sweetener until smooth. You can thin it out to more of a glaze by adding more of the liquid left in the can.
Once the roll are cool, frost and enjoy!

Oil-free cinnamon-filled soft sweet swirly cinnamon rolls! #vegan #glutenfree Click To Tweet

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Easy Vegan Oreos

March 6, 2016 · Natalie 179 Comments

The easiest healthiest vegan Oreos with a 3 ingredient crunchy chocolate cookie and lots of filling options. You won’t believe how simple and tasty they are!

Did you ever watch the Magic School Bus? My fellow nerdy 90s kids where are ya? Do you remember the haunted house episode about sound? Well before I lose most of you, the moral of the story is less is more. You have to take things away. You have to start with simple and only add what is absolutely necessary. That is the approach I took with these cookies. The result: easy peasy perfect gluten-free Vegan Oreos made with only 5 ingredients!

My first concern when I got this recipe request was crispy cookie?….how to make a crispy crumbly oil-free cookie? We can’t have soft chewy vegan oreos, then they’d just be whoopee pies pretending.

Based on these oatmeal cookies, I knew maple syrup had to be involved. And of course cacao powder is an integral ingredient too because chocolate. So from there, using my Magic School Bus knowledge, I added as few other ingredients as possible. And all they ended up needing was brown rice flour. Yep, just 3 ingredients and you have crunchy chocolate cookies–the ‘bread’ to our sweet sandwich.

Filling your Vegan Oreos

There’s no better creamy white filling then coconut cream. However, since I know many of you are high carb vegans, I wanted to include some lower fat options for the filling as well…

–Powdered peanut butter. It sounds like a higher fat option, but with powdered peanut butter it’s actually a lower fat way to go!
–Chocolate peanut butter. Utilize the thickening action of powdered peanut butter to make a chocolate filling. Powdered peanut butter + cacao powder + water.
–Banana. If you size your cookies just right, then one banana coin will sandwich in between two cookies perfectly. It’s almost the right color too!
–Nicecream. Blend up some frozen bananas, dollop on a cookie, sandwich, freeze, you have an ice cream sandwich! And of course you could make the nicecream any flavor you want–strawberry, chocolate, cinnamon, gingerbread, chocolate chip, lemon, endless ice cream-abilities!
–Date caramel. My favorite sweet filling or frosting: dates + water.

I love these little sandwich cookies. Fresh from the oven: love them. Cold from the fridge: love them. With cream: love them. Without cream: love them. Three days old and starting to get a little soft: still love them. I hope you love them too!

The easiest healthiest #vegan Oreo made with just 5 ingredients! #glutenfree #oilfreeClick To Tweet Print

Easy Vegan Oreos

★★★★★ 4.5 from 22 reviews

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes
Total Time: 29 minutes
Yield: 8 cookies 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

Cookie

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/4 cup + 2 tbsps brown rice flour

Filling

1 can of full fat coconut milk chilled overnight
2 tbsps powdered sugar (store-bought or homemade in the blender)

Lower fat filling options

Powdered peanut butter
OR powdered peanut butter + cacao powder
OR 1 banana (sliced)

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Instructions

Cookie: Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine all the ingredients. Mix to form a thick cookie dough.
Roll into 16 balls. Arrange on a pan (or two pans) lined with parchment paper. Cover with a piece of wax paper and flatten with the bottom of a cup or jar to about 1/2 inch thickness
Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350F.
Let them cool, they will become crispy as they cool.
Filling: Scoop out the cream from the can of coconut milk leaving behind the liquid. Add the powdered sugar and whisk till smooth and creamy.
Spoon onto your cookie, smush, and enjoy! Keep any leftovers int the fridge for up to 3 days.

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

March 2, 2016 · Natalie 13 Comments

Soft, citrusy, and totally scrumptious especially with a drizzle of glaze, these vegan lemon poppy seed muffins are gluten-free and oil-free!

After posting this lemon poppy seed mug cake, I received many requests for a full-batch lemon poppyseed muffin recipe so here it is. Soft, citrusy, and totally scrumptious especially with a drizzle of glaze! In the photos I simply use coconut cream on top, but you could also go use the pineapple-sweetened, easy, blender lemon glaze from the mug cake version. Enjoy!

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 -10 muffins 1x

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Ingredients

Scale

1 1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup maple syrup
Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tbsps)
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tbsps tapioca starch
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp poppy seeds
Optional: 1/4 tsp turmeric for extra color
Toppings: Use this frosting from the mug cake version or drizzle with coconut cream

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
Either line your muffin pan with paper liners or lightly coat with coconut oil.
Fill each muffin about 3/4 of the way with batter.
Bake for 25 mins at 350F.
Cool for a few minutes then glaze if desired and eat!

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Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

February 29, 2016 · Natalie 102 Comments

Craving something sweet, citrusy, and fast? This recipe for a Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake has you covered, including an easy sugar-free frosting!

Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

My love for lemon is strong right now! I have eaten a box and a half of lemon larabars. I just ordered my favorite body butter in a lemon scent. And I’ve been craving something lemon poppyseed for days. So I fixed that in the form of a Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake. Or actually more like six Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cakes in 48 hours. Let me explain…

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Oh good, a mug cake recipe, this won’t take long! Just mix, microwave, snap a few (hundred) pics, I’ll be eating it in no time. Uh uh, nope, little mister mugcake had other plans. Plans to be difficult.

First mugcake I forgot to frost. Second mugcake overflowed. Third mugcake overcooked and turned into mugrock. By the time I got to forth mugcake the sun was too low, pictures got weird. Fifth mugcake (next day) overbaked again (I’ll explain why momentarily). Sixth mugcake…SUCCESS! Spongy-soft lemon success!

I learned something very interesting in the process though. No not that I should’ve bought more lemons, although I should’ve. I learned that when I used agave nectar instead of maple syrup the mugcake overcooked much more easily. I’m no scientist, I don’t know why, but I’m just telling you my findings. So be careful with this one, especially if you opt for a different sweetener. Even with the maple syrup though, a minute and a half was plenty of time in my microwave. I’d suggest a minute and 15 seconds just to be safe.

If it sinks to form lemon poppy seed valley after you take it out of the microwave, then you didn’t go long enough. If it smells like burning cake and the center is rock hard, you went too far. Aren’t I helpful?

Fruit-Sweetened Pineapple Frosting

The frosting is almost all fruit! Inspired by Dee, Green Smoothie Gourmet, who made a pineapple lemon compote last week, I made a pineapple-based lemon glaze. Or frosting. It’s somewhere in the middle. Pineapple is so very sweet it balances out the lemon, and it’s just the right color too. A bit of tapioca starch and a few minutes in the microwave thickens it to the perfect glaze-frosting consistency.

And if you can’t tell already I am loving mug cakes right now, so I hope you don’t mind another mug recipe so soon after the Blueberry Muffin in a Mug. The next recipe will be in a proper pan I promise!

For now, onto this super quick mini cake…

Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

★★★★★ 5 from 11 reviews

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 minutes
Total Time: 12 minutes
Yield: 1 mug cake 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

Mugcake
1/3 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2–1 tsp lemon juice (depending on how lemony you like it)
1 tsp tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp applesauce
2 tbsps maple syrup
Dash of turmeric (optional)
1/4 tsp poppy seeds

Frosting

1 cup chopped pineapple
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp tapioca starch or cornstarch

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Instructions

For the mugcake: Mix together all the ingredients in a microwave safe ramekin or mug. Make sure the batter only fills it about halfway, otherwise it will overflow.
Microwave for 1-1.5 minutes.
For the frosting: Blend all the ingredients till smooth.
Pour into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, stir, then an additional 1 minute on high. It should be thick a thick glaze-like consistency.
Top your mugcake with the frosting and enjoy!

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The Ultimate Vegan Date-Sweetened Roundup (65 recipes!)

Beverages

Breakfast

Healthy Snacks

Desserts

Dips/Sauces/Spreads

Oil-Free Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan + GF)

Oil-Free Cinnamon Rolls (Vegan + GF)

Ingredients

Instructions

Easy Vegan Oreos

Filling your Vegan Oreos

Easy Vegan Oreos

Ingredients

Cookie

Filling

Lower fat filling options

Instructions

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients

Instructions

Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Fruit-Sweetened Pineapple Frosting

Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Ingredients

Frosting

Instructions

Follow @feastingonfruit

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CATEGORIES

Blog

Beverages

Breakfast

Healthy Snacks

Desserts

Dips/Sauces/Spreads

Ingredients

Instructions

Filling your Vegan Oreos

Ingredients

Cookie

Filling

Lower fat filling options

Instructions

Ingredients

Instructions

Frosted Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Mug Cake

Fruit-Sweetened Pineapple Frosting

Ingredients

Frosting

Instructions

Follow @feastingonfruit

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Recipes to your inbox

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