7 Healthy Delicious Dessert Recipes Sweetened with Dates (Roundup) — Isabelle McKenzie (2024)

A date, the small, energy-boosting fruit is a good source of fiber, and important vitamins, and minerals like potassium, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, and vitamin B6, and they’re easily digested and help to metabolize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

Dates were something I never ate when I was a child... I hated dried fruit, and I thought they looked nasty and would taste like their almost doppelganger cousins, prunes. However, when I decided to cut the sugar in my diet and started relying only on natural sweetness, I realized just how amazing, delicious, and versatile dates are for healthy baking.

Not only are dates nutritious, but work as an amazing natural binding agent due to their sticky texture and add a fantastic natural sweetness to any dessert. You can simply blend dates up to make sugar-free caramel and candies, or mix them up with other wholesome ingredients to fudge-like desserts like brownies! There are so many scrumptious healthy desserts that can be created with dates.

What is a date?!

Most people think of dates as a dried fruit because they're thinking of the dates you buy in the baking aisle. Medjool dates are harvested from the date palm, cleaned, sorted, and packaged right away. There's no processing and they're never physically or chemically dried.

Dates grow in large bunches which can weigh as much as 40 pounds. The date palm, native to the Middle East, was mentioned in the bible as the "tree of life," and the word "date" comes from the Greek "daktulos," which means "finger."

Are Dates Sugar-Free?

One thing you need to note here though, of course, like with most foods especially ones with considerable sugar content, even though it's natural sugar, dates still have a higher sugar content relative to the rest of their nutritional value, so moderation is key.

Furthermore, dates - particularly Medjool - are still naturally quite high in carbohydrates and natural sugar per tiny fruit. But, thanks to date’s lower-glycemic status, fiber, trace amounts of protein, and being unprocessed and coming in a natural whole form, dates are still a solid bet in sugar alternatives, just as long as, again, you check for added sugars when you buy the dates and moderate. Don't go crazy just because it's healthy.

Thankfully as long as you eat dates in moderation it's very unlikely to raise a person’s blood sugar excessively. So enjoy a slice or two of those date brownies guilt-free, just not the whole batch.

Feed your sweet tooth with moderate portions of "nature's candy", DATES!

If you want to cut down on sugar, are on a sugar-free diet, or want to eat a healthier lower sugar diet but are overwhelmed by sugar alternatives, this will help you find some wonderful no sugar added dessert options.

Before we get started with my top 7 healthy date desserts from around the web, I want to share a lil healthy baker tip with you.

Baking with Dates

When you pick up the ingredients, make sure to choose soft dates. Solid dates don't blend well and make hard chunks. If you only have solid dates, you can soak them in warm water for three to four hours before you want to blend them and that will help.

And my recipe selection is completely filtered through… everything listed has been checked and verified to contain NO artificial sweeteners, artificial ingredients, or added sugars and of course yumminess a guaranteed. The recipes are so good that no one will suspect that they’re healthy or sugar-free!

Better yet, these recipes will make for diabetes-friendly desserts and food - sweet tooth satisfying without the blood-sugar level spike. Plus, most of the recipes don’t call for any odd ingredients you can’t find nearby.

Well, what are you waiting for, whip on your apron, and let's get recipe hunting:

1. Sugar-Free Date Brownies

No longer imagine a world where brownies are guilt-free... it’s now a reality! These sugar-free brownies are sweetened only with dates – no other sweetener added - and make for one of the most decadent and fudgy brownie recipes ever. Gluten-free, vegan, and paleo. An easy date brownies recipe made in a food processor with only wholesome ingredients.

Dates are not only a fabulous great natural sweetener full of nutrients and fibers, but also make for the most delicious fudgy texture in brownies. This dessert is so ooey, gooey, chocolatey, melt-in-your-mouth delicious that you won't even believe this baked good is healthy and sugar-free. And luckily these brownies are oh-so-healthy because in case a oops-I-ate-the-whole-pan happens it won't be a problem for your diet!

Plus, did I mention that this date brownie recipe is super easy, all you need is a good food processor to create the fudgiest sugar-free brownies with dates?

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Brownies with Dates>>

2. Sugar-Free Date Cookies

Enjoy a cold glass of milk and a sweet cookie in a healthy way. This easy and healthy cookie recipe only calls for slightly more than 3 ingredients and has a quick preparation time.

That mandatory sweet taste cookies require is achieved by the sweetness of the dates, there's a fantastic crunch from the pecans, a wonderful moist texture from the banana, all making for a satisfying guilt-free treat.

Since dates are the primary ingredient in these cookies the texture will be soft and chunky but not crispy, rich, buttery and chewy, and pretty easy to make.

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Date Cookies>>

3. Sugar-Free Apple Date Cake With Coconut Topping

Apples and dates are a personal favourite of mine because this combo is literally like the healthy version of the delightful mix of caramel and apple.

This recipe a rich and sticky date and apple cake with no added sugar is actually one of the best healthy cake recipes I've ever come across. The delectable melt-in-the-mouth texture, caramel-toffee flavor that comes entirely from the sweet date and tart apple combination, and chewy golden coconut topping all combine to make this cake so darn wonderful, all without any added sugar, the only thing this is sweetened with are dates and the smallest portion of honey.

While honey is high in sugar, due to unrefined Manuka honey or Raw honeys health benefits, a small portion of honey per week can be apart of a normal healthy diet. If you want to learn more about - how much honey is good or bad for your diet click here to read: What Sugar Is In Honey, and Is It Bad For You?

This cake is perfect as a mid-morning snack and makes a guilt-free after-dinner dessert too! It can be made a few days ahead of time, in fact, it just gets better as the flavors enhance over time.

You simply can’t go wrong, please, please try it SOON! It’s HEALTHY after all.

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Apple Date Cake>>

4. Sugar-Free Date Peach Tarts with Ginger and Coconut

Enjoy the refreshing simply irresistible flavor of ripe peaches, ginger, and coconut in a gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free dessert.

The ginger's slightly pepperiness in the crust goes especially well with the sweet juicy flavor of the peaches, and the coconut buttercream sits perfectly between the crust and the peaches adding a fluffy, delightfully creamy, slightly nutty, sweet deeper flavor.

The tarts are sweet, zingy, fresh, basically just right!

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Date Peach Tarts>>

5. Sugar-Free Date Lemon Millet Truffles

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Bites... truffles... bliss balls... date balls... or energy balls, whatever you wanna label these little wonderful spheres, I can tell these orbs are made of pure yumminess!

These lemon-ey millet bliss balls are a sweet way to prepare date balls. Perfect for a dessert or a quick, grab-‘n-go snacking. They’re sugar-free, vegan, and gluten-free. Taking a bit of this delightful combo of Medjool dates and lemon juice is simply sweet lemon bliss.

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Lemon Millet Bliss Balls>>

6. Sugar-Free Date Salted Caramel Soft Serve 'Nice' Cream

This version of sweet and salty caramel banana ice cream takes only minutes to prepare at home and is a healthy whole-foods alternative to your regular high-fat, refined sugar-packed ice cream products. It is naturally vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, low-fat, and oh-so-satisfying.

Sweet and salty banana "nice" cream is a creamy, dreamy, healthful dessert you need to try this summer.

This ice cream-like mixture is made by pureeing frozen bananas and has a smoother soft-serve texture due to the addition of a little coconut milk. The addition incorporation of sticky dates and salt enhance the flavor and creates a caramel-like richness and sweetness.

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Caramel 'Nice' Cream>>

7. Sugar-Free Healthy Sticky Date Pudding

This sticky pudding is a surprisingly light and airy, healthy, whole-food modern take on a traditionally heavy and dense dessert. Made with simple pure ingredients, takes 20 minutes of prep, and is sweetened only with dates.

Have your cake and eat it too with this healthy twist on a decadent classic.

Get the recipe for Sugar-Free Healthy Sticky Date Pudding >>

8. BONUS RECIPE: Ooey Gooey Sugar-Free Date Caramel

A creamy, thick, sugar-free coffee caramel sauce recipe perfect for all of the caramel macchiato lovers out there! This caramel sauce combines the classic sweet and slightly burnt flavour of caramel with the fruity roasted flavour of coffee for a delicious drizzle or drink flavouring. The best part? It’s low-carb, keto, gluten-free, and has a totally vegan variation made from our friend, the date!

Get the recipe for Lick-The-Spoon Coffee Caramel Sauce >>

Go And Enjoy Your Date(s)!

For so long, I would walk right past the bags of dates at the store and never take a second glance. However, the truth is I was missing out on enjoying a myriad of wonderfullly yummy and healthy sweet recipes. The possibilities are nearly endless!

If you want to cut down on sugar, are on a sugar-free diet, or want to eat a healthier lower sugar diet but are overwhelmed by sugar alternatives, the mouthwatering recipes tried-and-truly-scrumptious are perfect for you.

It’s your turn!

What date-based recipe are you going to try first?

Let me know in the comments or on Instagram @itsisabellem using #SugarWithIsabelle!

That’s it from me, 👋