Christmas Recipe: Chocolate Dates

These tasty date-based chocs are the perfect easy treat to bring along to a Christmas social event. You could even put them in a nice jar as a present!

What you'll need:

250 grams of dark chocolate

250 grams of pitted dates. You can use either medjool or deglet noor dates

About half a cup of your favourite nut butter (almond, cashew, peanut…)

Optional: 1 tsp of coconut oil. This is useful if you want a slightly softer chocolate coating

Optional: sea salt to sprinkle

Either a couple of silicone cake pans or two plates / chopping boards (with baking paper on them if you are not using the silicone pans). These are for your dates once they are ready to go in the freezer, so choose a size that will fit.

Method:

Put your plates or boards into the freezer so that they are already cold when you use them

Break the chocolate into smaller chunks and melt at low heat. Using a bain marie is ideal but very low heat on the stove also works, you just have to stir frequently to ensure it does not burn. Add the coconut oil with the chocolate if you are using it.

Using a teaspoon, insert ⅓-½ of a tsp of nut butter into each date. This is quite a messy process! It doesn't matter if the nut butter exceeds the limit of the date, the chocolate will hold everything together later.

As you fill the dates put them onto another plate and in batches, put them in the freezer. We just want them very cold for coating, it's not the goal to freeze them.

Once all the dates are filled and the chocolate is fully melted, remove one of the pans/boards from the freezer and a batch of cold dates.

Using either a teaspoon or a chocolate dipper utensil, place each date into the chocolate and move it gently around until fully coated. Lift the date, let the excess chocolate drop off and place the coated date onto the cold pan or baking-paper-lined board. If everything is cold enough the chocolate should quickly firm up rather than running off the date. Continue with all the dates, leaving space between them.

Work in batches so that you are coating cold dates, then putting the coated dates into the freezer. Once the chocolate on the coated dates has become fully firm, you can coat them again if you like.

The method can seem a bit tricky, but once you get the rhythm of it, you'll be feeling the Christmas spirit and anticipating becoming quite popular once you unveil the finished project.

For another easy Christmas treat you might like our candied almonds.