I’m going to be completely honest with you here: I don’t usually trust vegan substitutes when it comes to baking, because fats from butter, milk, or yoghurt cause specific chemical reactions that give me the textures and flavour I crave. And while I’m not personally taking part in Veganuary, my vegan friend’s recent visit led me to try a simple recipe I’d never heard of before; caramel based on a dried fruit. The two-ingredient recipe was worryingly simple, I thought. I had to warm up some coconut milk, cover the fruit in it, and blend the mixture with a bit of coarse salt. To my surprise, it’s now become my favourite version of the sweet sauce; slightly nuttier and less tooth-singingly sweet than the regular kind, with an almost tahini-like savoury tang that balances its natural sugars perfectly.What’s the fruit?Dates, which are very high in natural sugars, make a perfect caramel base. Soaking them in warmed coconut milk makes them plumper and softer than usual (I left mine in for &l