Salted Caramel Cups Recipe | With Tahini And Dates
These Salted Caramel Cups combine the rich nutty flavor of tahini and the natural sweetness of dates to create a vegan and gluten-free treat that is both decadent and nutritious. The recipe only requires a handful of ingredients and a few basic steps so it’s quick and easy to make too.
In This Article
What Makes This Recipe So Good?
If you have a sweet tooth but you’re looking for healthier, more nourishing options these caramel cups are for you. Caramel foods often contain several synthetic colours in addition to artificial flavors that are mostly used to improve look and taste. Whilst that might be necessary in commercial products, we can skip on these when making treats for ourselves at home.
High-quality ingredients take centre stage in this recipe. Fresh dates replace refined sugars, offering natural sweetness, the natural flavor of caramel, and a boost of nutrients alongside the other wholesome components. The dates provide plenty of fibre, as well as plenty of antioxidants and several vitamins and minerals, especially copper, which is great for supporting the nervous and immune systems amongst many other things. Tahini contains an array of vitamins and minerals too (like B6 and manganese) but is also rich in anti-inflammatory compounds.
Ingredients – What You Need To Make These Caramel Cups
Few ingredients come together to produce a surprisingly sweet and complex-tasting treat that will quickly become a new favorite snack. And one that is contributing to both our plant-food and nutrient intake for the day too.
- Tahini – Hulled tahini is the best choice for this recipe, as it’s less bitter and more creamy. Its earthy, nutty character forms the base of the flavor profile for this recipe.
- Fresh Dates – Pitted Medjool dates are ideal due to their soft texture and naturally sweet caramel taste.
- Maple Syrup – while dates provide natural sweetness to the filling, a touch of maple syrup helps to balance out the earthiness of the tahini layer.
- Desiccated Coconut – adds a very subtle sweetness while also contributing textural contrast.
- Coconut Oil – adds extra hints of coconut flavor and helps to solidify the tahini layer in the freezer.
- Sea Salt – helps to balance out the sweetness while contributing to the salted caramel flavor of this delicious snack.
If these cups are being served to guests, get creative with the toppings! Aside from the coconut and salt try shaved chocolate, chopped nuts, or even chopped rose petals.
How To Make These Salted Caramel Cups
This recipe is perfect for those looking for a quick and easy vegan or gluten-free dessert. Made with minimal ingredients and requiring little prep time, they can even be whipped up when guests on their way!
- Line a mini muffin pan with little cupcake liners or use silicone moulds and soak the dates in boiling water for 10 minutes.
- While the dates are soaking, add the melted coconut oil, tahini, maple syrup and desiccated coconut to a bowl and stir well to combine.
- Pour 1-2 teaspoons into each mini muffin mould then place in the freezer for 10 mins to firm up.
- While the base is in the freezer remove the dates from the water and squeeze as you do to remove any excess. Don’t throw the water out just yet!
- To make the date filling – place the dates and salt into a blender and blend on high until the dates become creamy. If you find they’re not coming together well, add in 1 teaspoon of their soaking water, scrape down the sides of the blender and blend again.
- Remove the tahini bases from the freezer and top with some of the date filling. You might need to use 2 teaspoons to help you do this as the date mix will be sticky. Don’t pile too much into each cup because you still need to cover the top.
- Once all the date mix has been added and smoothed out, pour 1 teaspoon of the tahini mix over the top. Or enough to cover the gooey caramel date filling. Sprinkle with some extra desiccated coconut and/or some sea salt then put the moulds back in the freezer for 10 mins or until solid.
These should be stored in, and eaten straight from, the freezer. They will soften too much if left at room temperature.
You can make the base and top tahini layer as thick or thin as you like. The recipe will give you enough to make 12 mini cups each containing 1 tablespoon total of the tahini mix. Using 2 teaspoons at the bottom will give you quite a thick base layer (my preferred way to enjoy them). 1 teaspoon creates a thinner layer that allows you to have more of the date filling.
Substitutions And Variations
Want a bit more texture in these cups? The sweetness and creaminess of the dates and the earthiness of the tahini are perfectly paired with some crunchy peanuts. The roasted variety are great and can be chopped and sprinkled on top in place of the extra coconut.
Dark Chocolate is an optional addition but a little melted chocolate over the top of the caramel cups before freezing adds a touch of bitterness that the sweet caramel pairs so perfectly with. Milk chocolate could work too, though I’d avoid white chocolate as it would contribute too much of its own sweetness and clash with the sweetness of the caramel.
Tips For Success With This Recipe
Don’t forget to soak the dates! This will make them so much easier to blend into a paste.
Always remember to give your jar of tahini a really good stir before using it because all the oil from the seeds rises to the top and the paste sinks to the bottom. If you don’t mix it you’ll measure out mostly oil.
When serving, take the cups out of the freezer for a minute or two before indulging to allow them to soften just a touch. That said, they’re also delicious straight out of the freezer if you don’t want to wait!
Storing/Freezing/Make Ahead
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Anything past this and they’re still fine to eat, but they do start to take on a freezer-burn flavor.
This is the perfect make-ahead recipe. You can make them several days (or more!) before they’re needed.
FAQ
You could, but you may need to adjust the recipe for volume, texture and sweetness. Medjool dates are unique in that they blend into a smoother caramel texture compared to other, drier and less sweet varieties. This makes them ideal for this recipe.
Yes! Just remember this will mean the dessert is no longer vegan.
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Salted Caramel Cups Recipe | With Tahini And Dates
Equipment
- 1 Blender
- 1 12-hole mini muffin pan
- 12 mini cupcake liners
Ingredients
- ½ cup hulled tahini (see note 1)
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted (see note 2)
- ¼ cup desiccated coconut, plus more for sprinkling on top
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 5 large pitted Medjool dates (see note 3)
- ¼ tsp sea salt, plus more for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Line a mini muffin pan with little cupcake liners or use silicone moulds, then soak the dates in boiling water for 10 minutes.
- While the dates are soaking, add the melted coconut oil, tahini, maple syrup and desiccated coconut to a bowl and stir well to combine.
- Pour 1-2 teaspoons of the mix (see note 4) into each mini muffin mould then place in the freezer for 10 mins to firm up.
- While the base is in the freezer remove the dates from the water and squeeze them to remove any excess. Don’t throw the water out just yet!
- Make the date filling by placing the dates and salt into a blender and blending on high until the dates become creamy. If you find they’re not coming together well, add in 1 teaspoon of their soaking water, scrape down the sides of the blender and blend again.
- Remove the tahini bases from the freezer and top with some of the date filling. You might need to use 2 teaspoons to help with this as the date mix will be sticky. Don’t pile too much in each cup because you still need to cover the top.
- Once all the date mix has been added and smoothed out, pour 1 teaspoon of the tahini mix over the top. Or enough to cover the caramel date filling. Sprinkle with some extra desiccated coconut and/or some sea salt then put the moulds back in the freezer for 10 mins or until solid.
- Serve straight from the freezer or let sit for a minute or two if you'd like them to soften slightly.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Gabby Campbell
Gabby is a degree qualified Naturopath/Nutritionist (BHSc Nat) with a love of all whole foods. She started her Naturopathic career in clinical practice before making the move to recipe development and online education – a result of wanting to combat the misinformation that abounds on the internet about food and health. Whole Natural Kitchen aims to transform the way you think about healthy eating by helping you embrace an abundance of nutritious foods while leaving the health fads behind. MORE ABOUT GABBY