Almond Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Dates

Dates are one of nature's miracles: packed with nutrients, involving a heaping amount of fruity carbs for athletes and they're totally delicious and sweet! Win, win and win right here!



I love to include them soaked and blended in all kinds of baking adventures as a sugar "substitute" or, as a little pick-me-up, on my oatmeal in the morning. The supermarkets here only sell dried dates, if you've ever tasted the fresh ones (I luckily did so during a past vacation), you might know they're even more to die for!

Now think of these little sweeties at a date with some almonds and dark chocolate! Where would we end up? .....
With Almond Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Dates - of course! We got some similar, pre-packaged ones as a little present from Dubai once and immediately fell in love!
First theres the crisp chocolate with a slight bitter sweetness, then comes the date, full of natural sugars and last but not least the crunchy almond, which adds in a subtle nutty taste - DATEALMONDCHOCOLATEMAZING! (love puns - sorry not sorry!) You see I'm totally in love with this combination, so it's definitely (!!!) a rumour that I've already eaten some dates during the process of making these and some more while writing! And I certainly don't know why I ended up with less dates after the shooting, and the half date in the photos? - Hmmm...mistery, mistery, there needs to be a date-eating cute little monster around here somewhere....;-) Maybe I can lure it with one more, just a little one, heh?... Sorry guys, I'm loosing focus far too easily!

Back to the dates: They make up a perfect little snack even pre or post workout with healthy fats and carbs but still the little wonderful indulgent feeling of the chocolate (but hey, dark chocolate has antioxidants in it, so let's count it as healthy ;-)). Even when you've reloaded your nutrient stores you totally don't have to stop at one - you can keep coming back for seconds and thirds and fourths and...,and...., and... oh they're all gone :-(! But don't worry, just make a new batch within like 10 minutes - easy-peasy!

So when life keeps rushing you around you can still make sure to have your sweets and eat them too! Little to no time needed and guess what? They're also a nice sweet appetizer to welcome some guests or you migh think of packing these into christmas gift boxes along with the essential homemade cookies (recipes for that will come up soon!) for a little oriental touch! Varieties are endless, I've even added some spices to the chocolate or sprinkled a little sea salt on top. Get creative and indulge yourself while staying on the healthier side! (At least in my mindset...)

If you've got some more sparetime and more dried fruits waiting on the kitchen shelves, then just throw them together with some plain melted chocolate and end up with a nice mixed plate of chocolate and fruity goodness, check out the last post about chocolate covered dried figs for another combo of this type!

Almond Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Dates
- makes 30 Dates, can easily be doubled, trippled or halved(but you don't really wanna do that, they easily keep in an airtight container!)
- 30 Dates, pitted
- 30 Whole Almonds
- 100g Dark Chocolate
- optional: spices like cinnamon or toppings like sea salt

1. Take the pitted Dates and carefully stuff each one with an almond, without breaking the fruit apart. Slightly press the sticky edges (where the fruit was slit open) together, so the almond won't get lost in the chocolate later!
2. Melt the chocolate either in a waterbath or the microwave, give it a good stir (optional: add in your spices).
3. Carefully pick the dates up one after one and dip them in the melted chocolate (I've found out that a fork works best for this) and leave them to cool on a platter. Enjoy!