Coconut Cream Date Caramel

Thick, rich and naturally sweet, this coconut cream date caramel is made with Medjool dates. This no-cook recipe is fast, easy and accidentally vegan! 

A couple of years back, I bought some dates to make a recipe that only called for a few. I don’t even remember what that was but it must have been worth it or I wouldn’t have bought the whole pack.

The dilemma: What to do with the rest of the dates? This coconut cream date caramel was perfect. Creamy, smooth and not too sickly sweet. Even better, it is vegan so I was able to share it with a friend who can’t eat dairy. 

Coconut Cream Date Caramel

This recipe makes just a little less than 1 pint jar will hold, 1.9 cups or 450ml. The finished caramel weighs 1.23lbs or 560g. Assuming the coconut cream can has been sitting on the shelf for a while without being shaken, the thickest part of the cream will have risen to the top. That’s what you want to measure and use.

Ingredients

15 Medjool dates – about 12 1/2 oz or 355g before pitting

1/4 cup or 60ml unsweetened coconut cream from the top of the can

1/3 cup or 80ml date water from soaking

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt or more to taste

Method

Use a sharp knife to cut the dates in half. Remove and discard the pits and any hard bits (adhering fruit stalks) on the stem ends. 

Put the pitted dates in a heatproof bowl and cover them with hot water. Leave to soak for about 10 minutes.

Open the can of coconut cream from the bottom, if possible, and pour off the liquid and save it. 

Measure out 1/4 cup or 60ml of the thick cream. Make up the correct amount, if necessary, by adding a little of the thin cream. You can use the rest in another recipe, like a saucy curry.

Drain the dates, reserving 1/4 cup or 60ml of the soaking water. 

Add the pitted dates to a food processor along with the coconut cream, soaking liquid, vanilla and salt. 

Process until super smooth, scraping down the food processor occasionally. 

Spoon into a clean jar or covered vessel and store in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or longer. Let your nose guide you. 

This is lovely spread on toast, spooned into yogurt or warmed and drizzled over ice cream. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter D. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the D recipes below:

• Chocolate Covered Sandwich Cookies with Dulce de Leche from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Coconut Cream Date Caramel from Food Lust People Love
• Dalithoy, Konkani Style Dal from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Deviled Egg Charcuterie Board from Blogghetti
• Dirty Shirley Cocktails from Jolene’s Recipe Journal 
• Dragon Paneer Roll from Magical Ingredients
• Ricotta Gnudi with Creamy Mushroom Sauce from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Keto Dairy Savory Crepes with Almond Flour from Sneha’s Recipe
• Parmesan & Cheddar Pimento Corn Chip Dip from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice 
• Sesame Dandelion Greens, Siguemchi Namul-Style from Culinary Cam
• Sticky Toffee Swirled Cookies from A Messy Kitchen

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink 

D. Coconut Cream Date Caramel - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Coconut Cream Date Caramel!

.

Traditional Cullen Skink

Made with poached smoked haddock, potatoes and onions, this traditional Cullen skink is a creamy, thick, savory soup, the perfect bowl of warming goodness.

Last Autumn, on a chilly rainy day, my husband and I decided to stop in at an island pub for some lunch. Their soup of the day was Cullen skink, a fish soup I had enjoyed many years back on a visit to Scotland. That original bowl was creamy and thick with potato bits and smoky haddock. Truly delicious! One of my fondest memories. 

The bowl at the pub was not that. In short, it was a big disappointment. Very thin broth, hardly any smoked fish flavor and a real shortage of potatoes and actual fish too. If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that meant I had to make Cullen skink to remind myself of the better first memory. 

Curious about the name? According to the interwebs: “Cullen Skink gets its name from the town of Cullen in Moray, Scotland, where it originated, and the Scots word "skink," which refers to a shin or knuckle of beef, and by extension, a thick soup. Originally a beef broth, it evolved into a smoked haddock soup in the late 19th century when fish became a more accessible, local, and affordable staple than meat for the town’s fishing community.”

Traditional Cullen Skink

Use naturally smoked haddock for this recipe, if possible. Unlike the artificially yellow dyed fish, the naturally smoked haddock has a subtle light beige color, derived solely from the wood smoke. This recipe is adapted from one on the BBC Good Food website, now just called Good Food. Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g smoked haddock

1 1/2 cups or 360ml milk

1 medium onion

14 oz or 400g new potatoes 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups or 295ml fish stock

Fine sea salt and white pepper

To garnish: finely chopped parsley or chives

Method

Put the haddock skin side down in a small pan and cover with the milk. 

Cook gently for 5 mins, or until just tender. Turn the haddock over and set the pan aside, leaving the haddock and milk to cool for about 10 minutes. 

Remove the haddock from the milk with a slotted spoon (reserving the milk), transfer to a plate. 

When cool enough to handle safely, flake into large pieces, removing and discarding any bones and skin.

While the haddock cooks and cools, peel and chop the onion finely. 

Scrub the new potatoes. Halve or quarter big ones but leave small ones whole. 

Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add the chopped onion and sauté for 8-10 mins until translucent but not browned. 

Add the potatoes and fish stock and bring to the boil. 

Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 10-15 mins or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife. 

Use a fork or a potato masher to mash half of the potatoes to help thicken the soup.

Whisk the cornstarch into the cooled haddock milk then add it to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently, until the soup thickens slightly.

Add the flaked haddock to the pan and cook until just heated through. 

Season to taste with the salt and white pepper. 

Spoon into warmed bowls and sprinkle over the chopped herbs to serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter C. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the C recipes below:

• Chai Spice Mix from Blogghetti
• Chicken Thigh Schnitzel + Chenin Blanc from Culinary Cam
• Chocolate Chip Crescent Roll Cookies from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Chora Nu Shaak, Gujarati Style from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Coconut Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Colorful Peppers Pulao from Sneha’s Recipe
• Corn Sauté with Pancetta, Potatoes, and Peppers from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Cranberry Pistachio Pull-apart Rolls from A Messy Kitchen
• Dill Pickle & Mustard Seed Cream Cheese Spread from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Traditional Cullen Skink from Food Lust People Love
• White Chicken Chili from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing 

C. Traditional Cullen Skink - this post!

To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Traditional Cullen Skink!

.

Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

If you can find the right peaches, this Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing is a ray of sweet and salty summer sunshine all year round. 

I know, I know, it’s not peach season in the northern hemisphere but work with me here. If you aren’t too picky about their provenance, imported peaches can be found year-round in most places. When my mom was living with us on hospice care a couple of years ago, you can bet I bought her favorite fruit whenever the peaches looked good. Cost be damned. 

I am a huge fan of any sweet and salty combination and trust me when I say, blue cheese and peaches go together so nicely! The crunch of the lettuce and the slivers of onion make this one of my favorite salads. Save this salad for summer and peach season where you live, if you must, but do make it. 

Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

I tend to buy Roquefort because we love the deep flavor of sheep’s milk and the extra saltiness of the French cheese, but you can substitute your favorite blue cheese here. This will serve two amply as a side salad, three or four as a starter.

Ingredients

2 1/2 oz or 71g blue cheese 

1/3 cup or 65g mayonnaise

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1/4 small purple onion

2 ripe but firm peaches

1 baby cos or little gem lettuce (or sub romaine hearts, chopped bite-sized)

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Crumble the blue cheese and mix it well with the mayonnaise. Thin the dressing out with the cider vinegar but try to keep some little chunks of blue cheese whole. 

Slice the onion as finely as you can. 

Cut the peaches in half and remove the stone, then cut them up into wedges. 

Lay the baby cos lettuce leaves out on your serving platter. Drizzle on some of the blue cheese dressing. 

Top with about half of the peaches and a good scattering of the onion slices. 

Drizzle on some more blue cheese dressing. 

Top with the remaining peaches and onion slices, then more of the dressing. I held back for the photos but put it all on after because we LOVE blue cheese. Whatever you don’t use can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days. 

Finish the salad with a few generous grinds of black pepper. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 2nd edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter B. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the B recipes below:

• Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing from Food Lust People Love
• Bateta Ringad Nu Shaak from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Beef and Noodles from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Beet and Cheese Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Black Bean Salad with Corn, Avocados, Tomatoes and Red Onions from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Broccoli Stuffed Chicken Breasts from Blogghetti
• Brown Bread Omelette from Sneha’s Recipe
• Brown Sugar Banana Bread from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Creamy Broccoli Soup from A Messy Kitchen
• Small-Batch Blue Cheese Dip with Dried Herbs from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Here are my posts for the 2026 alphabet challenge, thus far:

A: Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew

B: Baby Cos Peach Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing - this post!

To see the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Baby Cos Peach Salad
with Blue Cheese Dressing!

.

Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew

Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew is a twist on the classic chicken dish made with yellow chili peppers called ají amarillo in Spanish. It’s spicy, rich, irresistible sauce makes it a favorite in our house. 

When I was growing up, my father worked/lived for many years in northern Peru so when school let out for the summer, I’d pack up and head south. While the little town didn’t have a lot to recommend it, it was an ideal place to be a free-ranging child with nothing but time on her hands! They were wonderful summers.

Daddy employed a cook named Cata who came in every morning to prepare our main meal which was served at midday. She was an older local woman who had years of experience cooking for her own family and made her living cooking for others.

One of her specialties was ají de gallina, a traditional Peruvian chicken stew served with white rice and garnished with hard-boiled eggs and black olives. It was always a good day when that was for lunch! A bad day included sweet stewed beets.

I hadn’t thought about Cata or her ají de gallina for years, when a great neighbor gave me a couple of chili pepper plants, one growing the bright yellow peppers I’d need to make it! We had been eating a lot of chicken at the time so I decided to make a variation on the classic recipe using pork instead. It was an excellent decision!

Ají de Cerdo – Peruvian Pork Stew

If you don’t have white sandwich bread, unsalted crackers or fresh breadcrumbs can be substituted. This dish calls for a specific yellow South American chili pepper. If you live in a big city then you may be able to find these in your supermarket or, failing that, you can find yellow ají paste in a jar online. Search for Inca’s Food which is a reliable brand.

Ingredients

4 slices white bread, about 3 1/2 oz or 100g

1 can (1 1/2 cups or 355ml) evaporated milk or light cream

2.2 lbs or 1 kg pork shoulder, cubed

2 tablespoons white vinegar

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

4 cups or 960ml pork or chicken stock, or more as needed

4-5 yellow ají (yellow chili peppers – see note above ingredient list)

1 large onion, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 oz or 28g cotija or Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup or 30g pecans

To serve:

Boiled potatoes

Cooked rice

Garnish:

Hard-boiled eggs

Black olives

Method

Soak the bread in the evaporated milk or cream till it softens and gets mushy.

Season the pork shoulder chunks with the white vinegar and a good sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate.

In a large pan, heat a splash of olive oil and fry the pork in batches until the pieces are nicely brown, removing each batch to a big plate when it’s done. 

If you can’t eat too spicy, remove the seeds from the chili peppers and mince. If you love spice like we do, leave them in.

In the now empty pork pan, add another drizzle of olive oil and fry the onion, garlic and chili peppers until soft. 

Scrape them into your blender jug or a measuring vessel for a hand blender.

Add the pork back into your once again empty pan and add in the stock. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, about 1 hour or until the pork is tender. 

Add your bread mix to the onions, garlic and peppers in the blender, along with the cheese and pecans.

Blend until smooth. 

When the pork pieces are tender, add the smooth blender ingredients to the pork pan, adding more stock as needed to make a thick sauce. 

Simmer for 30 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally and adding more stock as needed.

Serve with the rice and potatoes. Decorate with a hardboiled egg half or quarter and a couple of black olives for each plate.

Enjoy! 

This is our third year to work our way through the alphabet sharing recipes with ingredients or title featuring the letter of the post so welcome to the 1st edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter A. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the A recipes below:

• Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew from Food Lust People Love
• Aloo Bhaji & Poori from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Amygdalopita from A Messy Kitchen
• Anday Aur Subzi Pulao from Sneha’s Recipe
• Apple Crumb Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Apple Pork Chops from Blogghetti
• Arancini from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Argentine-Style Burgers with Chimichurri Sauce from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Artichoke Spinach Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Atchara: A Pickle from My People…and My Grandmother from Culinary Cam
• Homemade Apple & Whiskey Barbecue Sauce from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Magic Pan Orange and Almond Salad from Palatable Pastime

To see the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.

Pin this Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew

.