Bonus post, coconut date rolls

Coconut date rolls

I decided to give you a bonus recipe post. Since dates are a popular food in the Middle East, I'm giving you my favorite recipe involving dates. Right now this is one of my favorite potluck recipes. They are kind of healthy because they are fruit based, and sweet enough that most people will eat them. Since dried dates are a seasonal item, I went a little nuts picking up dates at the grocery store last winter. Yeah, that's the only kind of dates I get at the grocery store, or anywhere else for that matter... The ingredients are pretty simple. Dried dates and coconut. I like to use unsweetened macaroon coconut, but any sort of shredded coconut will work.



There are a lot of different ways to prepare them. Just eat them as is, make buttered dates. rip them in half, and roll them so the sticky part faces out, or grind them up and make rolls. The best method I have found is to soak them in hot water for around 15 minutes, drain them, then dump them in a food processor.





 Then process them to make as coarse or as smooth of a paste as you prefer. I'm not a perfectionist, so I make them chunky. My main goal is to break them up enough to make them sticky on all surfaces. That helps with rolling the balls and covering them.






I hope that this step is pretty self-explanatory. Roll into the size and shape you want. I was originally introduced to these as long, log-shaped items, with half of a blanched almond on top. It wasn't until I started making them myself that I realized how many dates it took to make them that shape and size. Then there is the issue of not getting the almond on top sticky and covered in brown goo. Sometimes I will put an almond in the center to give it a nice crunch when bitten into. I've also seen recipes for these rolled in sesame seeds. I've never tried it, but I'm guessing their bland nature would work in this preparation.

Anyway, here is the finished product. I originally thought of being lazy and just showing them in the container that I was taking them to the potluck in, but I decided that they needed to be a little more photogenic than whiteish on white.
Enjoy!

Comments

  1. Poppy CrockerJuly 30, 2017 at 11:26 AM

    They're kind of like homemade Larabars.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lace makerJuly 30, 2017 at 1:44 PM

      Yeah, pretty much. I've read the ingredients on some of those type of bars and thought I could make it myself. The only problem would be packaging them to be shelf stable for months at a time.

      Delete

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