I'm in love with date paste and so happy about it!  So much so, that I've been using it almost exclusively in my latest recipes. This way the sugar in a recipe is only coming from dates, making it easy to consume with no side effects. It's also extremely easy to make.

How to make date paste  

Ingredients
8 oz dates (I used this whole bag)
Hot Water

Place dates in medium sized bowl and cover with hot water until they get nice & soft. (If you have more time, you can cover with colder water and let sit overnight). Pour the dates along with the water into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. This will make roughly 2 cups of date paste so you’ll have some left over for lots of fun things like spreading on toast, or using as a sweetener for anything at all.

Substitutions
In the recipes I'm doing lately, I'm using one cup of date paste in place of 1 cup of sugar. 

Need some healthy baking ideas?