Traditional Stuffed Dates Recipe
Today we are making a Traditional Stuffed Dates Recipe! Dates are traditionally grown in the Middle East and are a large part of Middle Eastern cultures. They’re a fruit (fun fact), grown on the date palm tree, contain tons of natural sugars and have hundreds of varieties available!
They’re one of my longtime favourite foods, actually. If you ever ask me, dates will be in my Top 3, if not Number 1, favourite foods! I mean the big, gooey, caramel-like dates Medjool that make you feel like you’re on a sugar high. I am so obsessed with eating dates that my mom ALWAYS has a pack at home. It’s also my go-to healthy snack when I need to pack for a road trip, school, work, picnic and more.
Please do yourself a favour and don’t buy the dried out dates that look like they’ve had the soul sucked out of them. Or dried red dates, for that matter. One time, I picked up dried red dates from an Asian grocery store, only to find out that they tasted nothing like I thought they would (they were rock hard and likely not meant to be eaten upfront – more like to be used in certain Asian dishes maybe).
The Perfect Snack
I do use dates in *many* recipes – 99% of the time, if I have a raw dessert recipe up, it would be using dates. Substitutions for this could be raisins or prunes in terms of texture, but nothing can compare to the taste! So as I mentioned earlier, I made one of my most common snacks (surprised I never put up various flavours of this before). It’s the stuffed date! There are so many ways to make this, but I decided to go with a “Fall” theme, albeit it’s now March 3. Pecans and oranges as fall foods don’t go out of style!
These stuffed dates have toasted pecans, orange zest and shredded coconut. Then we cover them in semisweet chocolate and refrigerate until chewy and until the chocolate has hardened. If you can’t wait, eat them right away with the melty chocolate – it’ll still taste divine! I prefer to have them frozen so the chocolate give a crunchy exterior, then chewy with the dates, the crunchy again with a pecan.
Why You’ll Love This Traditional Stuffed Dates Recipe
Perfect Appetizer: Serve these at your next party, during the holiday season or on any special occasion! There are so many ways to level up a stuffed date. For example, you can stuff them with vegan cream cheese and drizzle with maple syrup and rose petals for an easy appetizer recipe.
Or, add your favorite nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter) with sesame seeds and fresh fruit topping (maybe some raspberry halves added right before serving) with a walnut piece on top. These make great finger food and can easily be customized.
Nature’s Candy: Dates are like nature’s caramel! The flavor combination of coconut, chocolate, pecans and orange makes for a delicious snack. I’ve had the traditional flavors, such as pistachio, cashew, candied orange or candied pecans in dates before, but never all of these combined! It’s sweet, tangy and nutty all in one for a super healthy dessert.
Substitutions
Dates: You would not get the taste flavour or texture with any replacement for dates in this recipe, since they’re not being blended with other ingredients, but rather eaten raw as they are. As I mentioned before, the large and caramel-like soft dates – Medjool – are the best. You can find out more about the best dates varieties here! You can find these at Middle Eastern grocery stores if not at your local store.
Chocolate Chips: You can use dark chocolate chips instead of semisweet as well (although the chocolate would be more bitter). Check the ingredients to make sure your chocolate does not have milk or milk powder added. Otherwise it would not be vegan.
Orange Zest: I haven’t tried lemon zest in replacement, but it might be too tangy – try at your own risk if replacing. Orange has a unique taste that lemon does not!
Pecans: You can try raw almonds, cashews or walnuts in replacement of pecans. If you don’t have access to these, try pistachios or peanuts. They have completely different flavours but will still taste great.
Shredded Coconut: I used unsweetened shredded coconut. You can also use the sweetened type. Although combined with the sugar of the chocolate chips and the dates, it might be too sweet. Depends on your tastebuds but I would not use anything in replacement of the coconut.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you make this Traditional Stuffed Dates Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Traditional Stuffed Dates Recipe
Equipment
- 2 Small Stovetop Pots, one larger than the other to mimic a double boiler to melt chocolate
- Small skillet
- Large hole grater
Ingredients
- 6 large medjool dates pitted and sliced lengthwise
- 2 tbsp semisweet chocolate chips
- 6 raw pecans
- 6 tsp shredded coconut
- 1 small orange or tangerine for zesting
Instructions
- Add the pecans to a small skillet over medium heat. Constantly stir them around until they begin to brown – they will burn quickly so be careful! You can also taste one to check – it should be crunchier and more flavourful than a raw pecan.
- Once toasted, remove the pecans from the stovetop. Alternatively, you can skip this step as well if you'd like to keep the pecans raw.
- Stuff dates with one pecan into all the pitted dates.
- Take the two small stovetop pots and add water into the larger one, filling it up halfway.
- Place it over low heat on the stove, then add the smaller pot into it. Make sure the water does not go into the smaller pot – if it does, remove some water from the larger pot.
- Add the chocolate chips into the smaller pot and constantly stir them around to melt.
- Once they are melted, turn the heat off and drizzle all of the melted chocolate over the dates. I like to dip a spoon inside the chocolate and very quickly move back and forth over a date to create a drizzle. Otherwise, the chocolate will drop in random clumps over the dates.
- After the chocolate topping, sprinkle each date with 1 teaspoon shredded coconut.
- Zest the orange with the grater to add a few orange flakes to each date – I didn't measure this, but you can see the amount of orange zest on each date in the photo. Add to your liking.
- Once completed, refrigerate or freeze the dates for an hour. Personally, I prefer them frozen (they become a lot harder and chewier). I recommend refrigerating them first if you aren't sure on how the texture would change if frozen.
- Enjoy!
Notes
-
Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. The chocolate will melt if stored at room temperature.
