Cinnamon-Fig Cashew Butter Spread or Dip

I’m celebrating the New Year, New You Event with Hallie at Daily Bites and Alexa at Lexie’s Kitchen, and that means an awesome new cashew butter recipe for you! The event is intended to inspire us all to make and sustain healthy changes by taking small but meaningful steps. Last week’s theme was focused on fitting in more produce, but this week is all about Smart Snacking.

To be honest, snack ideas are a tough one for me. I’m a simple girl, often noshing on organic carrot sticks, apples sprinkled with cinnamon, and rice cakes slathered in nut butter. But sometimes I do crave more, so I decided to tackle my weakness, sweet snacks. In the afternoon when I hit a wee slump, I often reach for a cookie or two. I don’t want to deprive myself of that sweet afternoon hit, but lately I’ve been working to healthify my mid-day snacking by using more whole food ingredients for a bigger energy boost without a subsequent crash.

As mentioned, I like rice cakes with nut butter, so I decided to jazz up my ordinary instant homemade cashew butter recipe for a slightly sweet, but still healthy treat. The recipe below contains a little bit of coconut oil for some healthy fats, raw cashews for a touch of protein and richness, and finally, figs. Figs might be deliciously sweet, but they also pack in a wallop of nutrition. Figs are a good source of fiber, potassium, and manganese. Also, a little known fact is that figs actually contain a good dose of calcium. As a double bonus, the potassium in figs may help to counteract the loss of calcium from our bodies. If you want to up the calcium in this recipe even more, use almonds instead of cashews.

Cinnamon-Fig Cashew Butter Spread or Dip

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

I love this as a spread on brown rice cakes or whole grain bread, and as a dip for apple slices or whole grain flax crackers.

Author: Alisa Fleming

Serves: 3 servings

Ingredients

• 2 Ounces Raw Cashews (scant ½ cup)
• ½ Cup (80 grams) Dried Figs (I used Black Mission)
• 2 Teaspoons Coconut Oil (I used Nutiva Organic Extra-Virgin Coconut Oil)
• 2 Teaspoons Maple Syrup
• ⅓ Cup Boiling Water
• ¼ to ½ Teaspoon Cinnamon (I like the whole shebang)
• ⅛ Teaspoon Salt, or to taste
• ¼ to ½ Teaspoon Lemon Juice (just a quick squeeze)
• 4 Drops Vanilla Stevia (I used NuNaturals), optional

Instructions

1. Grind the cashews into a powder in your spice grinder.
2. Place the cashews, figs, oil, maple syrup, and water in a small food processor or blender, and let them sit and soak for a few minutes.
3. Add the cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, and stevia if using, and blend until relatively smooth.
4. You can eat it right away, but I like to let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to thicken up.
5. Serve as a dip for fruit, as a spread for rice cakes or bread, or even stirred into oatmeal! You can also top it with even more fruit, like the pomegranate seeds I’ve pictured above.

Notes

I use my cheapy personal-size blender for both grinding the cashews, and then blending the rest.

Variations: This recipe uses dried figs, which can be enjoyed year round. If you pick-up some fresh figs during their small “in-season” window, try this Fresh Maple-Fig Spread for a similar snacking treat.

Diet type: Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy free, Egg free, Gluten free, Peanut free, Soy free, Wheat free, Refined Sugar free.

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