Sugar and I go way back and our relationship has not always been healthy. Like most Americans, I spent the early years of this affair ingesting, ahem… more than the World Health Organization recommendation of six teaspoons (or a measly 100 calories) per day for women. Men don’t get off much easier. They are allowed only 9 tsp., or 150 calories/day. Things were going well. My weight was fine and it tasted SO GOOD.

So why should I care now and why should you? Piles of studies are pointing to the damage sugar can do to your health. Check out some of it for yourself at www.sugarscience.org. Fructose especially, but all sugars really, can cause triglyceride elevation, inflammatory reactions throughout the body and liver damage. Eating naturally occurring sugars, like those found in fruits, is not so harmful because the fiber in the fruit slows absorption enough to let our bodies process the carbohydrates slowly.

Over time, I have been trying to get refined sugars out of my life. The candy bars were easy, the cookies are still a struggle. I also know that my chances for success will increase if I can find a healthy substitute for bad sugars. Enter the magic of fruit purees.

Normally, this is easy to find unsweetened apple sauce, but prune, banana and apricot are also great choices. Prune or date puree can be found in the baking section of the grocery or can be made at home. I will routinely substitute ¼ to ½ of the sugar called for in any recipe with fruit puree. Purees can also stand in for fat in baking. If you are putting fruit in for fat and sugar, start at ¼ of the total for each and work your way up each time you make the recipe. Sugar lends proper browning and texture so some is usually needed in cookies and cakes.

There is a world of culinary uses to explore here, but let me show you how I make apricot puree. The technique is the same no matter what dried fruit you want to use.

Apricot puree:

½ cup dried apricots

1 cup water

In a dish or measuring cup, put the fruit and water together, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight until the fruit has plumped up.

Put the fruit and water into a blender and puree until smooth.

This may require you to stop and scrape down the insides of the blender several times before it is smooth enough to be lump free and stick to a spoon when turned upside down.

When fully blended, store in a jar in the fridge for about a week or the freezer for up to 6 months.

So now you have your puree, what can you do with it? Stir it into your morning granola, slather it on pancakes or toast, use it instead of jelly on a sandwich and, of course, cook and bake up a storm. It is a terrific thickener for homemade salad dressings!

Since going plant based with our diet, I began to notice how hard it was to find granola without dairy in the ingredients. Granola is often loaded with sugar and very expensive. On a recent trip, a bag of granola was selling for over nine dollars! Eek. That’s when I found out how fun, rewarding, great smelling, simple and delicious making your own granola could be. You seriously have to try this. The smell alone is worth the effort.

Naturally Sweetened Apricot, Macadamia Nut Granola:

3 cups rolled oats

1 mashed ripe banana

2 tbs. coconut oil

½ cup apricot puree

12 diced dried apricots, diced

½ cup unsalted macadamia nuts, chopped

1 tbsp. ground flax seed stirred into 3 tbsp. water

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

optional:

1 tbs. chia seeds

You can always add sugars in the form of agave, black strap molasses or maple syrup if the naturally sweetened recipe above is just not sweet enough. I have not needed more than ¼ to ½ cup of additional sweetener per recipe to satisfy even the biggest sweet tooth in the house. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Put the oats into a large bowl with the nuts, dried apricots, mashed banana and flax/water mix (this gets gelatinous and helps hold the chunks of granola together while adding nutrients) .

In a small pan over low heat, mix the apricot puree, coconut oil, vanilla and cinnamon until the oil is melted.

Pour the melted mix into the bowl with the oats and stir until well combined.

If you are adding any of the optional chia seeds or natural sugars, do that now. Pour onto a baking sheet covered in parchment or baking liner and spread out into an even layer.

Bake at 350 deg. F for 20 mins. Turn off the oven, rotate the pan and let sit in the turned off oven another 15 mins.  Let cool on the baking sheet undisturbed if you like chunky granola or break it up and stir it around if you like it in small bits.

The sky is the limit on what you might want to add to the recipe when you make it at home. Bran, dried cranberries, different nuts and seeds, coconut…

I store this in a glass jar with one of those silica desiccant packs taped into the top of the lid to keep it fresh. Eat within a week although it never lasts that long at our house.