The Best Stuffed Dates Ever (Multiple Ways)

🧂 Ingredients

• 9 dates

  Medjool work best; use as many dates as wanted
• 1 Tbsp goat cheese

  or cream cheese, blue cheese, ricotta, feta
• 1 Tbsp walnuts

  or pecans/other nuts
• 1 tsp honey

  and/or balsamic glaze
• Optional toppings

  fresh thyme/rosemary, pomegranate seeds, sliced apple/pear, fig jam, etc.
• Optional wrapper

  Prosciutto or bacon (thin)
• 1 Tbsp almond butter

  or nut butter of choice/tahini
• 1 oz chocolate

  or chocolate chips to melt
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

  to sprinkle, optional
• Optional toppings

  crushed nuts, shredded coconut, cacao nibs, freeze-dried fruit, etc.
• 3 almonds

  whole; or another nut: pecans, walnuts, pistachios, etc.

Instructions

• 1 Slice down the side of each date and remove the pit so they open like a book,
  leaving space for stuffing.
  
  Save the pits for date pit coffee!
• 2 Stuff each of the dates with about 1 tsp of goat's cheese.
• 3 Press some crushed walnuts into the top of the cheese and drizzle with honey or
  any other toppings.
  
  For roasted goat cheese stuffed dates, transfer the stuffed fruit to a baking
  tray and bake for 5 minutes at 350ºF/175ºC. Once roasted, drizzle with the honey
  (or hot honey and/or balsamic vinegar). 
• 4 If you decide to wrap them in prosciutto or bacon, then secure them with a
  toothpick and transfer them to the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes for
  proscuitto, and 20-25 minutes for bacon, flipped halfway.
• 5 Spoon about ½-1 teaspoon of your favorite nut butter into each date (peanut
  butter, almond butter, tahini, etc.), then gently close them.
• 6 Melt dark chocolate in a microwave or using a double boiler, pierce the dates
  with a wooden skewer, then gently dip each date into the melted chocolate.
  Alternatively, add a small chocolate chunk to the center of each date instead.
• 7 Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool, optionally sprinkle with a little sea
  salt (and any other toppings), then leave to cool and set.
• 8 Add a single nut to the center of the date for a little crunch. You can use an
  almond, pecan, walnut, pistachio, etc.

Nutrition Info