Date Caramel and Chocolate Turtles

A simple way to make homemade caramel that involves no butter and no sugar is date caramel. To make this, simply put pitted dates into a blender or food processor with a bit of water. You can add salt if you desire a salted caramel. Blend until smooth. It will be sticky, so you may need to scrape down the sides of the blender as you go. Because of the fiber in the dates, this caramel will not cause the same blood sugar spike of regular sugar.

In our workshops, we used our caramel to make chocolate turtles. We took a spoonful of the date caramel and added three pecans. Then, we topped the caramel and pecans with melted chocolate and refrigerated until the chocolate hardened.