Best Date Balls Ever!

I have tried many variations on date balls, always seeking one that is easy and reasonably light / light on the blender (don't have a powerful one), doesn't involve any cooking, and uses only things that are not too expensive or fancy and we usually have in stock... and never quite found it...

I bought a pack of dates not long ago, maybe I was thinking about making date square? I hadn't done much with them... Then I noticed there was a recipe for date balls on the side and decided to give it a whirl... 

Perhaps this is the date ball recipe I have been looking for!

150 g / 5.3 oz dates (normal ones, pitted - not medjool), coarsely chopped

100 ml plant milk (used oat)

80 g / 2.8 oz oats

50 g / 1.76 oz desiccated coconut

20 g / 0.7 oz cocoa powder 

additional cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, or freeze-dried fruit powder for rolling

 

Blend dates and plant milk until smooth. Scrape into a medium bowl.

 

Blend oats slightly to break them up, then add to the date mixture along with the coconut and cocoa. Stir well together. 

 

Make balls of a size you like, and roll in something - e.g. cocoa powder, orange zest, desiccated coconut, freeze-dried fruit powder, sesame seeds...

 

 

I did some rolled in freeze-dried strawberry powder (left over from s's birthday cake) - which were a big hit with s; and also some rolled in cocoa powder and some in desiccated coconut. All were good, the strawberry powder was the best.

 

I'd be curious to play with adding ground spices e.g. cinnamon, ginger, cayenne; and also with using nuts/seeds - e.g. sesame seeds; walnuts. I have some blackcurrant powder which was a spontaneous purchase when I bought the strawberry powder - might be good with that as well... Lots of space for variations! 

 

Possibly slightly less plant milk would have been good. Might also be good to figure out a quick n dirty cup measuring version as my scales are in ounces and the amounts are awkward. Apart from that, I really liked this recipe!

 

Edit: I have made these a few times now, as s actually really loved the version with strawberry powder on the outside. The next time I did a mix of blackcurrant and strawberry powder (although the favourite is still strawberry, the blackcurrant powder is not as nice...). Still keen to try a version with a lot of spices and maybe some sesame seeds (toasted? instead of the coconut?). Always seem to be a hit! 

 

The mixture is quite sticky so I rolled them with nitrile gloves on the last time, which I think was a good idea. 

Date balls

Date balls is kind of a bad name for these - they are nicer than that - also containing cacao, coconut, almond... Based on this recipe.

(makes approx 12)

1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 tbsp cacao powder
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp almond butter
3 medjool dates
Extra cacao and cinnamon powder for rolling (or coconut)

Grind coconut and almonds together in a blender. Add cacao, coconut oil and almond butter and blend to mix. Add the dates and blend until well mixed*. Scoop approx tsp sized pieces of mixture, roll into balls, and coat by rolling in extra cacao powder (and/or cinnamon and/or more desiccated coconut). Best kept in the fridge (or freezer).


* I couldn’t get the dates to grind in my blender at all - they just stuck in big pieces... later realised the blender broke (it was ancient). So I ended up chopping and mashing with a knife and fork instead: old school. The fork solution worked out ok but was more work than I was expecting! But good to know you could make them without blender at all if needed.

These would also be lovely with ground pecans instead of almonds... but I liked the symmetry of using almonds plus almond butter, and coconut plus coconut oil, for this time. And they are good - best after chilling overnight. Would be quite kid friendly without the cacao.

Black pizza: balsamic reduction, date, walnut, fennel and goat cheese

I had forgotten how good this combination is. It is inspired by a pizza we ate by the waterfront in San Francisco once upon a time. We loved the combination of sweet and strong flavours. Then S suggested it when we were making pizza on a Sauna Wednesday in Norwich, and M helped us make the balsamic reduction that first time. S got really excited about pizza recently, because we are back on the dairy since moving to DK, and because our high-speed pizza dough has been especially good since we got here - perhaps the fresh yeast?

(makes 2 medium-small thin-crust pizzas)

1 cup balsamic vinegar
1-2 tbsp sugar
1/2-2/3 batch of high speed bread dough (must be made in advance)
flour for rolling
cornmeal, semolina or grahamsmel for the baking sheet
6 dates, stoned and roughly chopped
10 walnut halves, broken into pieces
1 smallish bulb of fennel, thinly sliced (or onion)
about 50 g of goat cheese (or mild creamy blue cheese eg gorgonzola), roughly chopped

Heat the oven to 220C. Put the balsamic vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and heat at a high heat until it is just starting to thicken. Take off the heat. Separate the dough into two balls, and roll each out to about 3 mm thick. Sprinkle two baking sheets with cornmeal and transfer the pizza bases to them. Spread the balsamic reduction over the pizza bases. Sprinkle the dates, walnuts, fennel and goat cheese generously over the top. Put in the oven and bake for about 20 min, until starting to brown. Take out and let cool for five minutes or so before chopping into pieces (I favour scissors) and eating.

Date balls

We bought a couple of boxes of juicy dates (dadler) lately. They are so sweet, they are like candy. Halfway through the second box I thought of doing something other than just eating them as they are, and decided to try some kind of raw date balls. They perhaps don't sound that delicious, but they are really good - just enough chocolatey-ness from the cocoa, nice crunch from the almonds, sticky sweetness from dates. Not to mention, they (obviously) don't require any cooking and came together in about ten minutes.

(makes 10-12 depending on size)

1 cup pitted dates
1/3 cup whole almonds
2 tbsp cocoa powder
desiccated coconut for rolling (optional)

Put pitted dates, almonds and cocoa in a blender and whizz until reasonably pasty but still with nice chunks of almond. Switch off and unplug, and then scoop out teaspoon sized pieces with a teaspoon and roll into balls in your hands. Scatter some desiccated coconut (if using) on a plate and roll the sticky ball in it. Transfer to a storage box. Repeat for the rest of the mixture. Store in the fridge (if they get that far).

Date spread

We had the most wonderful date spread at A Naestu Grosum in Reykjavik, three years ago. I remembered it when I saw this recipe, also remembered a packet of dates I'd had in the cupboard for a while. Had been eating dates at Grandma's and thinking about how much I like them. This all seemed very seasonally appropriate, somehow.

(made a half quantity, used pretty much a whole packet of dates (apart from a few that went in my mouth... it was plenty - it's quite rich)

2 1/2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups water
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsp ginger, grated
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cocoa

Put all the ingredients in a small pan and simmer until almost all of the water is evaporated (about 30 minutes).

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Puree until smooth. Eat warm or cold, with seedy bread or raw veg.