Stuffed Dates Toffees

By Alka Jena @alka_jena

Hey, we are once again back with our 28th Foodie Monady Bloghop event and what a fun choosing the theme for this time. It's always a pleasure to visit my co-blogger friends blog and see what amazing recipes they have....and when the theme for this week was " Inter Blog challenge" , everyone including me were excited. This is the chance to cook something from each other's blog but wait who will cook from whose blog was the question in everyone's mind. Here comes the savior of our group Krithika ...the lively girl that she is always has surprises up her sleeves.....and comes this unique way of choosing the Blog by picking up a random draw. Personally, I would have been happy to cook from anyone's blog as I know each one of them are fantastic cooks and passionate Bloggers. I have been given to try recipes from a very talented and sweet friend Habeeba Nisa who blogs at Flavour Diary Nisa is born and raised in India and moved to UK with her family consisting of her hubby and two extremely sweet kids. She is a Software professional and was working  before she left India and currently work with her husband in his Company. Her Blog has  a collection of wonderful recipes to cook from. I have personally used one of her recipes of Chocolate cups in SPICY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE. Apart from this, some of the dishes which I like from her blog are Cute Deviled eggs, Chocolate Cardamom Sandesh, Dahi Vada . 

Spicy Chocolate Mousse

For this 28th Foodie Monday Blog Hop I have chosen this very easy and flavorful recipe of Stuffed Dates which can be done in both sweet and savory manner and like her I also tried the sweet version. You can have a look at the original picture of the recipe below.              Here is what NISA has to say about her recipe: "Why to have just dates for your snack, why not have them with little more added vitamins and minerals. These lovely tiny energy bundles are easy to make and serve. Having a date a day would be satisfying to your taste buds with sweetness and also giving you all the essential nutrients for the day.  Its a blending and stuffing process".Dates are the fruit of the date palm tree, and are often used as an ingredient in desserts and other recipes, naturally sweetening dishes and offer several nutritional benefits. Dates has been gaining popularity with more health conscious consumers who looks into the fact that dates can easily be used in cooking and baking to sweeten dishes, sometimes even taking the place of sugar or other artificial sweeteners.
The health benefits of dates are far-reaching, but one of the best things about the natural fruit is that although it is high in sugar, studies have shown that dates are actually a low-glycemic index food and do not significantly raise blood sugar levels after they are eaten. Dates are also loaded with fiber, have been shown to lower triglyceride levels, and deliver vitamins and minerals that are necessary to maintain optimum health.Coming back to the recipe of Stuffed dates, it is an easy but impressive recipe with loaded goodness of dry fruits. This recipe is equally well-suited for an elegant dinner party or a  summer get together, as it balance sweet, nutty and crunchy flavors and  textures.I have made a few changes in the original recipe which I have marked in the Note.Level: Easy 
Total time: 30 minsMakes: 50 nos
Ingredients

  • 2 packets dates
  • 100 grams Almonds
  • 100 grams Cashewnuts
  • 2 tablespoon Raisins
  • 1 tablespoon melon seeds
  • A pinch of Nutmeg powder
  • 1 tablespoon Milkmaid
  • 100 grams chocolate chips(Optional)
  • Few Cloves for garnishing

Lets learn How to make this:

  • Cut the Dates in half and remove the seeds. You can also seedless dates.
  • Dry roast the  Almonds, Cashewnuts and melon seeds separately. 

  • In a blender add Almonds, cashews and blend it to a coarse powder.Add the melon seeds and nutmeg powder to it.Now add 1 tablespoon of milkmaid and knead it to make a dough consistency.Take a pinch of this mixture and stuff it inside the dates. Place a clove in the center and keep aside.The flavor of the clove and its spiciness will balance out the sweetness of the stuffed dates.
  • You can have this as it is now or can follow the below mentioned procedure to make it more exotic.

  • Now melt the chocolate chips  in a double boiler and mix it well. Once it melts add a a teaspoon of oil to make it smooth and easy coating of the dates.Dip each stuffed dates in it and keep on a parchment paper to dry. Place it inside a refrigerator to cool .Once cool, take out the dates and wrap it on color papers like toffees. You can have them as it is or can pass it off as a gift to someone you LOVE.
 This is such an easy to make recipe once you figure out a couple of basics, that you can easily make a few batches within  half an hour or so and have delicious gifts to share with friends and family or to serve throughout the holiday season.Believe me when I say you can make this and then invite people over for a tasting of this. Otherwise, you’ll be tempted to eat it all yourself. Promise. I have made the following few changes in the basic recipe adopted from Flavour Diary. 
  • The original recipe calls for sugar and water , whereas I have replaced it with Milkmaid for proper binding in place of water.
  • The original recipe calls for addition of food colors whereas I have kept it basic.
  • I have dry roasted the almonds and cashew nuts for longer life .
  • Kept the mixture a bit coarse so that it can give the feeling of chewiness.
  • I have used melon seeds for crunchiness and nutmeg powder for aromatic flavor.
  • I have used chocolates to cover the dates for a kids friendly version and kept it as it is for others.

Thank you Nisa for this wonderful and simple recipe and if I could have met you in person, I would have definitely gifted you the lovely stuffed dates wrapped up in chocolates for you and your kids.
Sending this Stuffed dates toffees recipe to our 28th Foodie Monday Bloghop theme of " Inter Blog Challenge".