Salty-Sweet Vegan Salted Caramel Dessert Hummus Dip or Spread
Guys, this is the bomb!
If you like the salty-sweet combination of salted caramel, you will probably enjoy this vegan salted caramel dessert hummus.
Background: I was shopping at Aldi in late November, when I came across their brand of Dessert Hummus.
I just said Dessert Hummus. I really did.
That was pretty much my reaction when I saw it. So…intrigued…I…didn’t buy it
I was certainly curious, but when I scanned the ingredient list, I said, “Nah—I’ll pass.”
Why?
Sugar, preservatives, canola oil…stuff I’d rather skip.
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I vowed to myself that I would make up my own recipe because
- I’m a cheapskate
- I wanted a cleaner recipe
- That little tub, though! See #1
- I like to figure things out.
I believe this recipe was a huge success!
Even my “won’t go near garbanzos with a ten-foot pole” teenage picky pants tried a nibble. Under extreme persuasion, “Eat one bite, you picky little kid!” Then when I wasn’t looking, he crammed the whole apple in and gobbled it up with a grin.
This is the first time he’s ever eaten any food with a garbanzo—hidden or out in the open—and liked it.
My other not-picky teen swiped the whole bowl for his toast.
My husband, amazed that I had achieved a caramel dip with mostly just garbanzos, gave his two thumbs up—until he found out I’d used dates, then he quickly got up to go count the dates left in the jar! He’s kind of protective.
This Vegan Salted Caramel Dessert Hummus recipe is
- Very clean. No hidden junk.
- Low glycemic index because every item is made from whole plant foods.
- It’s great to satisfy your sweet tooth
- Full of good fiber from the garbanzos
- Has no refined sugars to spike your blood sugar
- High in plant protein!
- So Good!
I can think of so many ways to eat this dip:
- Use it on apples (it was fabulous with my favorite, Pink Lady, since those are a little tart/sweet).
- Dip bananas or other fruit into it
- Spread it on pita chips, toast, or crackers.
- Plop it on top of ice cream!
- Swirl it into yogurt!
- Get your own bowl and eat it with a spoon!
- Use it as a filling in cinnamon rolls or jelly roll cakes
Not with olives!
Who did that?
Someone kept photo bombing my pictures with random stuff!
Salted Caramel Dessert Hummus
Equipment
- Vitamix or other high powered blender
Ingredients
- 1 15.5 oz can Garbanzos (Chick Peas) Rinsed and drained
- 1/4 Cup Almond butter or Mixed Seed Butter. *See notes, below
- 1 Tbsp Pure Vanilla
- 1 Cup Dates, Medjool, all or mixed with other chopped dates. (I used 3/4 c chopped, and 4 large Madjool dates). The Madjool are very caramely!
- 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt or other pure salt I used Himalayan Pink
- 1 Cup water hot, for soaking dates
- 1/8-1/2 Tsp Powdered Stevia, adjust to taste. *See notes, below Sweetness will depend on your brand.
- Coarse salt for sprinkling on top, if desired.
Instructions
- Assemble all ingredients and take a picture! 😉
- Soak dates for 15 mins in hot water.
- Combine all ingredients into high-powered blender, using as much of the date water as needed to blend well. (I used it all, but it will depend on how dry your dates and nut butters are). Blend until smooth.
- Serve with fruit slices, crackers, pretzels, or as desired! A sprinkle of coarse sea salt on top adds to the flavor combo!
Notes
- Stevia powder varies immensely in strength. I use the CC Nature brand, available in bulk on Amazon.com. It is super concentrated, so I used a heaping scoop (approx 1/16th of a tsp or less) for this recipe.
- You may substitute 1/4 cup maple syrup for the stevia. It is a delicious way to add flavor. I left it out since I was making this with no additional sweeteners since my body rebels against them sometimes. If you use the maple syrup, decrease liquid by 1/4 of a cup.
- I used the Mixed Nut Butter from Costco. It’s almond butter based, with the addition of chia, flax, cashew, and pumpkin seeds. It’s yummy!
- For the dates—Medjool are delicious. They taste like caramel all by themselves! But they are more pricey than regular chopped dates. So I used mostly chopped and added in a few (4) of the others. If I wanted to make this special, like for a holiday treat, I might use all Medjool. Also—the Medjool are a treat that were given to my husband as a gift. So I only used a few.
Ingredient source links:
We try to get most of our food in bulk.
Here are a few links to the ingredients used in this recipe with the bulk prices.
- Chick Peas/Garbanzos—get them at Aldi for like 58c/can. That’s hard to beat.
- Dates—we got ours in bulk, chopped from a local food coop. Check your local and food coops that deliver to your area.
These Medjool dates (affiliate link) are currently 35c/oz, which isn’t too bad.
Bulk chopped dates are even cheaper, currently at 17c/oz if you purchase 20 lb. - Almond butter. If you can find a friend who has a Costco membership, maybe they’ll buy you the almond butter @ 33c/oz. Otherwise, you can get the same brand (Kirkland) on Amazon.com (affiliate link) for a little more @ 44c/oz on three. I think we got them on sale at Costco awhile back. I was using almond butter instead of peanut butter while trying to avoid the aflatoxins in peanuts when dealing with yeast.
- Vanilla. I get ours locally at the Yoder’s market. It’s double strength so it goes a long ways. I’m not sure if Haitian or Mexican vanilla is best, to be honest.
- Salt. Use any good salt.
- Stevia. I use the CC Nature Brand of Stevia. It’s very strong (in a good way), not bitter, and goes a long way! It’s also the cheapest I’ve found. Awhile back, I purchased a small bottle locally of the Better Stevia, from Yoder’s because I needed a new bottle and was out of stevia. It had a tiny little scoop enclosed. So when I say “a scoop of stevia” that’s what I’m referring to. The Better Stevia brand is good. It’s not bitter. We noticed that it disappeared a lot quicker than the CC Nature brand, though, so it’s not as concentrated. I think I use half of the CC Nature compared to the other.
Enough about all of that! Just go make yourself some fruit dip and start chomping!
Just make sure to save some dates for your husband!
And stay tuned, because my next desert hummus will be that pumpkin spice kind! And, yeah, I know it’s not November! It’ll be ok!
I was so excited until I saw the dates. Dates and I are not friends. Do you have any other suggestions for the dates? Also, can I use another nut butter like a pecan nut butter or sunflower seed? DO you think it would work?
I think that would work.
So you could use just maple syrup. Or pure cane sugar. I try to avoid most sugars, but the Aldi brand had sugar. I’d probably do like 1/2 c sugar and a bit more stevia. Coconut sugar is less refined and better on the blood sugar.
Thanks! I will have to try that!
I forgot the nut question.
Tahini would work. Any nut butter. Idk which ones you avoid!
Sounds interesting and nutritious Good for you for finding a recipe you can use for your family. I too look at the ingredients of things and put so many back on the shelf. Don’t want to pay good money (especially with current prices what they are) for things (preservatives and junk) I don’t want to eat.
This I have to try because I’m curious, though I have to say, garbanzo beans as a dessert base? Hmm…
Hmm indeed. Not bad though and you don’t taste the beans!
WOW garbanzo beans?? Who would have thought! Looks delicious and may have to get some ingredients and try it. As for swapping out the dates, maybe use Monk fruit sweetener? It is sweeter than sugar!
Yes it’s similar to stevia.
You could skip the dates but they do give a nice caramely flavor!
Could add some maple flavoring to bring that out!
I need way more encouragement. I avoid hummus- and therefore, like the plague. Because I consider it one of hte original 10 plagues.
Well…the only encouragement I could offer would be a blind taste test. You and my son would get along well.
Oh, yum, I love hummus. Never had dessert hummus. Thanks so much for linking up at the 25 and Done Link Party 3. Shared onto Fb, Pn, and Tw!
I had not either.
I can not taste beans whatsoever! But they are there, offering their benefits!
CONGRATS! Your post is FEATURED at the 25 and Done Link Party 4!
Thank you so much!!! Will check it out soon I hope!!
Visiting again to say thanks so much for linking up at the Unlimited Link Party 73. Pinned.
Thank you!
I absolutely will be trying this recipe! My husband was the guy who would never eat hummus or garbanzo beans until I made chocolate chip cookie dough dessert hummus! Now everybody in my house wants hummus. This salted caramel one looks amazing. I will definitely let you know how everyone likes it! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Shelbee
Great!
Like I said—if my Adam will eat it, anybody probably will—and he can sniff out a garbanzo under just about any disguise!