THIS. OMG THIS folks. Want to impress your Valentine and they’re obsessed with chocolate? I give you Chocolate Covered Dates, 3 ways, this week!
- Chocolate Covered Dates stuffed with Peanut Butter topped with milk chocolate stripes (easiest)
- Chocolate Covered Dates stuffed with Bacon and Maple Caramel Sauce topped with finishing sea salt.
- Chocolate Covered Dates stuffed with Rum Infused Bananas topped with shredded coconut.
You guys, I’m not even fucking around this week. These Chocolate covered dates are AMAZBALLS. The Peanut Butter dates are the easiest to make and taste JUST like peanut butter cups using only 3 ingredients, dates, peanut butter, and dark chocolate, that’s it.
The Chocolate Covered Dates stuffed with Bacon and Maple Caramel Sauce are easy to make, just more time consuming. However, this recipe is my favorite of the bunch!
The Chocolate Covered Dates stuffed with Rum Infused Bananas are the most complicated to put together but delicious (and totally worth it) nonetheless.
Kieran and I flew home to attend my Step-Dad’s funeral, and arrived back in Portland a few days ago. Not going to lie, I’m mentally, emotionally, and physically drained. I’ve gone to bed at 8pm almost every night since we got back home. That being said, this post will be noticeably shorter than the others, but I wanted to share at least something this week, and trust me, these recipes are tasty AF!!
I’ve had chocolate covered dates before and loved them, however, this time, I wanted to experiment a bit more with different flavors. Our friends Phoebe and Eric invited us to a Super Bowl gathering last Sunday, so I had the PERFECT excuse to make all 3 versions of the Chocolate Covered Dates to share!
So again, I made Chocolate Covered Dates stuffed with Peanut Butter, with Bacon and Maple Caramel Sauce, and with Rum Infused Bananas.
Even though ALL the dates were crazy delicious, the group favorite was the dates stuffed with Bacon and Maple Caramel Sauce. To avoid high fructose corn syrup and other unsavory chemicals in store bought caramels, I made my own caramel sauce with a splash of maple extract. The hint of maple paired magically with the bacon, chocolate, caramel, and dates. If you don’t want to make homemade caramel sauce, you can buy your favorite store brand, or melt down some caramel candies. I topped the dates with a nice finishing sea salt which gave the desert an extra hint of salty deliciousness.
The runner up was the dates stuffed with peanut butter. No joke, they taste like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Out of the three date recipes, this is the easiest. Simply cut the date open, take out the pit, stuff it with peanut butter, dunk it in dark chocolate, and refrigerate until the chocolate sets. I had an extra bag of milk chocolate chips in my cupboard, so I melted some down, spooned the milk chocolate into a pastry bag, and pipped the milk chocolate stripes across the dates. I figured the milk chocolate stripes against the dark chocolate covered dates would make for a prettier food photograph. But don’t buy a bag of milk chocolate chips JUST for the aesthetics. You’ll most likely have extra dark chocolate, use that instead. It will still look pretty and, if you have a steadier hand than me, still look professional. HA!
The Rum Infused Banana stuffed Dates were a bit more ambitious to make, but worth the effort. Dates pair well with the flavors of rum, banana, and coconut, so I figured I’d caramelize the banana’s with brown sugar, butter, and rum, then top the chocolate covered date with shredded coconut. The rum flavor wasn’t as pronounced as I would have liked, but the taste was wonderful.
Seriously, our friends gobbled up the Chocolate Covered Dates in an instant. They are easy to make and delicious to eat. Instead of buying your Valentine store bought chocolates, spend a little time in the kitchen and make him/her these amazing Chocolate Covered Dates instead!
Chocolate Covered Dates
Ingredients
Peanut Butter:
- 16 medjool dates
- 16 tablespoons of your favorite peanut/almond butter (1 tablespoon per date)
- 8 oz of dark chocolate chips
Maple Caramel Bacon:
- 16 medjool dates
- 1-2 pieces of cooked bacon
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- ½ cup of heavy cream
- 1-2 tablespoons of maple extract (you can use vanilla extract too)
- Pinch of salt
- 8 oz of dark chocolate chips
- Finishing salt for topping
Rum infused bananas:
- 16 medjool dates
- 1-2 bananas, peeled. Cut each banana in half, then cut each half lengthwise
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 shot of white rum
- Pinch of cinnamon
- 8 oz of dark chocolate chips
- Shredded coconut for topping
Instructions
Peanut Butter (easiest):
- Line a baking sheet or a couple of plates with parchment paper. Set aside until needed.
- Cut the dates in half lengthwise, being careful not to slice the date all the way in half, you want to be able to stuff the dates with your filling. Remove the pits.
- Carefully spoon 1 tablespoon of peanut butter inside the date, then set the date on top of the parchment paper. Repeat until all of the dates are stuffed with peanut butter.
- Put the dates into the freezer and chill while you melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or microwave).
- Once the chocolate is completely melted, take the dates out of the freezer, and one by one, dunk the dates into the melted chocolate using a fork. Carefully lift the chocolate covered dates out of the chocolate, allowing the access chocolate to drip off.
- Carefully placed the chocolate cover dates onto the parchment paper and top with finishing salt or any topping you wish. After you topped the dates with whatever topping you enjoy, pop them into the fridge for an hour or until the chocolate firms up and sets.
- Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!
Maple Caramel Bacon (medium difficulty):
- Line a baking sheet or a couple of plates with parchment paper. Set aside until needed.
- Cut the dates in half lengthwise, being careful not to slice the date all the way in half, you want to be able to stuff the dates with your filling. Remove the pits.
- Cook the bacon until it reaches the crispness you like best. After the bacon is finished cooking, allow it to drain on a paper towel lined plate. Blot off the excess grease. Cut the bacon into bite size pieces.
- Mix the brown sugar, butter, cream, maple extract, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-low to medium heat. Cook and whisk the ingredients together until everything is well combined. Let the mixture bubble and cook, whisking occasionally, for 7-8 minutes, so the caramel sauce can thicken up. Take off heat and set aside until needed.
- Carefully stuff each date with bacon, then set the date on top of the parchment paper. Repeat until all of the dates are stuffed. Now spoon some of the caramel sauce into the dates as well. You'll have plenty of sauce left over, so don't worry, use as much caramel sauce as you like.
- Put the dates into the freezer and chill while you melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or microwave). This will help harden the caramel sauce so it doesn't run out of the dates.
- Once the chocolate is completely melted, take the dates out of the freezer, and one by one, dunk the dates into the melted chocolate using a fork. Carefully lift the chocolate covered dates out of the chocolate, allowing the access chocolate to drip off.
- Carefully placed the chocolate cover dates onto the parchment paper and top with finishing salt. Pop the dates into the fridge for an hour or until the chocolate firms up and sets.
- Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!
Rum Infused Bananas (most difficult):
- Line a baking sheet or a couple of plates with parchment paper. Set aside until needed.
- Cut the dates in half lengthwise, being careful not to slice the date all the way in half, you want to be able to stuff the dates with your filling. Remove the pits.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter and brown sugar over medium to medium high heat. Whisk together until the butter and sugar are well combined. Don't worry if the mixture looks grainy. Once the butter/sugar start to bubble, carefully add the banana's, flat size down. Cook the banana's for 3 minutes, then using 2 forks, gently flip the banana's and cook for another minute.
- TURN OFF THE HEAT and add the rum. Once the rum is added, turn the heat back on. If you have a gas stove, you can gently tip your pan to one side until the rum ignites. If you're working on an electric stove, get a long fire lighter (or match) and careful ignite the rum. Be careful, but don't panic, your pan will be aflame but will burn out in a minute or two, once the rum burns off.
- Once the fire dies down, sprinkle in some cinnamon, and carefully stir everything together. Set aside and allow banana's to cool and cut into small chunks.
- Once the banana's are cool, stuff the dates with some banana, then spoon over some brown sugar sauce left over in the pan. Repeat until all of the dates are stuffed with banana and sauce.
- Put the dates into the freezer and chill while you melt the chocolate in a double boiler (or microwave).
- Once the chocolate is completely melted, take the dates out of the freezer, and one by one, dunk the dates into the melted chocolate using a fork. Carefully lift the chocolate covered dates out of the chocolate, allowing the access chocolate to drip off.
- Carefully placed the chocolate cover dates onto the parchment paper and top with shredded coconut or any topping you wish. After you topped the dates with whatever topping you enjoy, pop them into the fridge for an hour or until the chocolate firms up and sets.
- Keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Enjoy!
Notes
Depending on how thick your peanut/almond butter is, you may not need to freeze the dates after stuffing them. You just want to ensure the peanut butter doesn’t spill and run out of the date, before you stuff them. If you’re using creamy peanut butter and it’s spilling out of the date, pop them in the freezer for about 10 minutes, to help stiffen up the peanut butter, to keep it in place. Maple Caramel Bacon:
You’ll have a lot of the maple caramel sauce leftover from this recipe. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, it should last for a couple of weeks. The caramel sauce would go great over cake or ice cream! Rum Infused Bananas:
You may have extra bananas and brown sugar rum sauce. Spoon it over some ice cream and now you have Banana’s Foster! Delicious!!! No calorie breakdown this week folks, as soon as I have more energy I’ll be posting calorie counts per usual. I hope you understand!!