When autumn draws near and juicy apples fill the stalls, a caramel dip is hard to resist. This one comes together in a few minutes in the blender, with no refined sugar: soft dates and lucuma, with its naturally caramelised sweetness, do all the work, while coconut and pecan butters bring the creaminess. A spoonful of cinnamon rounds the whole thing off.
Caramel apple and cinnamon dip
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Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups apples, peeled and diced
- 3 tbsp lucuma powder
- 2 tbsp pecan butter
- 2 medjool dates, pitted
- 3/4 to 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
- 2 tbsp whole coconut butter
Preparation
- Set aside a few apple dice to serve alongside the dip.
- Blend the rest of the apples with the lucuma, pecan butter, dates, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the coconut butter and blend again, just long enough to work it in properly.
- Enjoy straight away with the reserved apple dice, or chill for a few hours for a thicker texture.
Tip
No pecan butter to hand? A mild almond or cashew butter works just as well. This dip keeps for two to three days in the fridge, in an airtight container.
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FAQ: your questions about lucuma
What does lucuma taste like?
It is precisely for its taste that it is used here: lucuma suggests caramel, sweet potato and maple syrup, with a slightly floury note on the finish. The fresh fruit, common in Peru and Ecuador, has the texture of a dense purée; it is the dried powder that reaches us. Its sweetness is moderate, far less intense than a syrup, which makes it a discreet sweetener: it flavours more than it sweetens. Hence the point of pairing it with dates, as in this recipe, which bring the sugar while the lucuma brings the taste.
How much lucuma is recommended?
There is no official dose: it is a food, not a supplement. In practice, one to two tablespoons per preparation are plenty, as here where three spoons flavour more than two cups of apple. Beyond that, the floury note takes over and weighs the texture down. Recipes that use it in raw baking suggest replacing a third to half of the usual sweetener with lucuma, no more: it is three to four times less sweet than white sugar, so unreasonable quantities would be needed to get the same effect.
Where can I find lucuma in Europe?
In powder form, it is found in health food shops, in superfood specialists and on online stores, in bags of 100 to 250 g. The fresh fruit, on the other hand, is practically impossible to find in Europe: too fragile, it travels badly and does not ripen properly outside its home climate. A few retailers offer frozen pulp imported from Peru, which remains the closest option to the fruit. For this recipe, the powder is perfectly suitable — it is in fact the form it was designed for.
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