vegan, gluten-free, easy, paleo, fruit-sweetened, candy, sweet · October 29, 2018

Medjool Date Pumpkin Fudge

Name: Medjool Date Pumpkin Fudge
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: american
Ingredients: 2 cups (400g or ~20) Natural Delights® pitted Medjool dates; 1 cup (250g) cashew butter (or nut/seed butter of choice); 1/2 cup (125g) pumpkin puree; 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice; 1/2 tsp salt (omit if nut butter is salted); 2-4 tbsp coconut oil or non-dairy milk, as needed; 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, melted

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Healthier pumpkin fudge with Medjool dates, pumpkin, cashew butter, and dark chocolate. The perfect easy, vegan and paleo, melt in your mouth Halloween treat!

THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY NATURAL DELIGHTS®

You knew I had to sneak in one more needlessly cute pumpkin thing before Halloween. It would be wrong to leave you hanging without the perfect kid/party/you-and-your-festive-adult-self treat for the big day. But don’t worry, there’s an option that isn’t smiling at you included too.

This is the ultimate cheater’s method for making fudge. There is no boiling of (and 90% chance of burning oneself with) sugar. There is no microwaving of milk. There is no double-boiler melting of chocolate. There isn’t even any sugar.

If you are currently thinking: Wait can we even call this fudge though? Just hear me out.

Because it is rich. And it has all the right mouthfeel qualities that makes fudge fudge. And it is the best the best thing to happen to your freezer since ice cream season ended. Say hello to Medjool Date Pumpkin Fudge.

Things you need to make pumpkin fudge:

Pumpkin. Duh.
Medjool dates. The star of this recipe really. These beauties are what bind, thicken, and bestow their sweet caramel magic on our fudge without any refined sugar…it’s basically witchcraft.
Cashew butter. Or any nut or seed butter, but I like the richness and neutral flavor of cashew.
Pumpkin pie spice.
Salt.
Nondairy milk or coconut oil. To get that food processor traffic-jam moving again if necessary.
Chocolate chips. Optional, only if you want to chocolate dip and take things to the next pumpkin fudge level.

And a pumpkin mold if you are going the extra cute route. Or a pan and parchment paper if you don’t care about shape and just want the fudge to your face faster.

I used my favorite Medjool dates from Natural Delights® – the yellow package which means already pitted which means I AM LAZY – because they are always the squishy-sweet freshest. For a recipe like this without a lot of liquid blended in, you need Medjool dates that are squishy and soft without soaking (extra water may make the fudge more icy after freezing).

And if the dates are already pitted, this recipe takes less than 10 minutes of actual effort:

Combine everything in a food processor.
Process. Stir. Process. Stir. It will get stuck, so help it along with a spatula and a few spoonfuls of coconut oil or non-dairy milk as needed.
Press into a pan or mold.
Freeze until firm.
Chocolate dip if desired. Or just eat already!

When it comes to easy + pumpkin, no one can ever say I don’t deliver (says the girl who has only posted one non-pumpkin thing in over a month…too much?)

A few other DIY (healthier) Halloween treat ideas:

Peppermint patties > No-Bake Mint Chip Cookies
Snickers > Peanut Salted Caramel Mousse Bars
Crunch bar > Chocolate Superfood Crunch Cups
3 musketeers > Salted Chocolate Truffle Bars
Twix > Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cups

But between you and me, these fudge pumpkins are cuter than that whole list combined…shhhhh!