Medjool Date Syrup ~ An All Natural Sweetener

I had never had dates up until a few months ago when my aunt made a date cake that I fell in love with.    Since then, I've been trying to find a way to use dates in a recipe; and because I had never used dates before, I wanted to make sure it was a VERY SIMPLE recipe. That's when I found out about Date Syrup.  Just 3 main ingredients: medjool dates, filtered water, and lemon juice.  That's it, but I had to put my own twist on it--cinnamon!  Pretty easy for a first-time date recipe, and I can't wait to see what I can do with the date syrup.  Recipe below...

Ingredients:
*makes about 1-1/3 cups of syrup

• 8-9 whole, organic medjool dates
• 1-1/4 cups filtered water
• 1-1/2 tsp lemon juice (this helps the syrup last longer)
• a pinch of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place the whole dates in a small bowl and cover with warm water. Let them sit for about 30 minutes. Once the have soaked, drain the water and remove the pits.
2. Add the soaked dates to a high-speed blender (we use a Vitamix).  Add filtered water, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Blend on high for 45-60 seconds, or until smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to an airtight container. 

Lasts for about 2 weeks in the fridge.

As a plain syrup, I have used it as a sweetener for my plain greek yogurt and granola in the mornings, but I have heard it would be great as a pancake syrup!

What to make, what to make!?
Hannah