Looking for a recipe from Taste of Home? Look no further than chocolate squares sweetened with date chips! Below will help you to do so.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of finely chopped dates
- 1 cup of boiling hot water
- 1 cup sugar
- A third of a cup of shortening
- 2 big eggs
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping:
- A cup’s worth of semisweet chocolate chips.
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar that has been packed
- 1/2 cup of nuts cut into pieces
Directions
- Mix the water and the dates in a small bowl, then set it aside to cool (do not drain). Sugar and shortening are creamed together in a large basin until the mixture is frothy and light. Beat in eggs. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together, and then add it to the creamed mixture in stages. Stir in dates.
- Pour into a baking dish that is 13 inches by 9 inches and has been oiled and dusted. Mix the topping ingredients together, then sprinkle them over the batter. Bake at a temperature of 350 degrees for forty minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake emerges clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
The Facts about Nutrition
1 portion contains 223 calories, 9 grammes of fat (three grammes of which are saturated), 18 milligrammes of cholesterol, 110 milligrammes of sodium, 34 grammes of carbohydrates (26 grammes of sugar, two grammes of fibre), and 3 grammes of protein.
date sweetened chocolate chips
Want to make something with chocolate chips? Today, we are going to make double chocolate biscuits that are sweetened with date!
Yes, you are reading this correctly: these cookies are rich, dark, and fudgy tiny morsels of bliss and the only sweetener used are sticky-sweet Medjool dates. They are very similar to brownies.
It’s a miracle that happened because of cookies.
After making several tries at date-sweetened cookies that turned out to be more like rocks the colour of brownie batter and a few others that were essentially just the tops of muffins, I was nearly dancing around my kitchen when I found the recipe that turned out to be the best.
They have a dense and gooey texture, an intense chocolate flavour, and the ideal amount of sweetness; in other words, they fulfil my ideal dessert or snack situation.
The bowl of the food processor is the only container used to make the batter, which is a very cool feature.
The first ingredient in these cookies is dates, which may come as a surprise to you. Always, I use entire Medjool dates that have had the pits removed by me.
You want to find dates that are huge, plump, juicily sticky, and sticky, like the ones that are sold in little plastic tubs in the vegetable area of most grocery shops. In this environment, hard, dry ones are not the best choice.
After placing the dates and coconut oil into a food processor, you will need to purée the ingredients until they form a sticky paste.
After the addition of an egg, which acts as a binder for the mixture, the other dry ingredients are thrown in and the food processor is pulsed rapidly to bring about the formation of a dough.
In my opinion, the fact that all of this takes place in a shorter amount of time than it requires for the oven to reach the desired temperature is a resounding victory.
At this point, you will finally incorporate some chocolate pieces into the mixture, scoop out your cookies, and then place them in the oven for a mere six minutes before they are ready to be removed (yes, really!).
We’re talking 10-ingredient, 1-bowl, and 20 minute cookies.
In addition to that, they are made with double chocolate and whole wheat and are sweetened with dates.
Because my palate crave the contrast between salty and sweet flavours, I sprinkled a generous amount of flaky sea salt on top of each cookie before baking. However, adding the salt is completely voluntary.
Even though these cookies aren’t the kind that are overly sweet and require the sprinkle of salt on top to counteract the sweetness, the addition of the salt is still very much appreciated if you’re the type of person who enjoys the crunchy texture of salt.
Oh, and if you don’t have a food processor on hand, don’t worry: I tried making these in a bowl, mashing the dates and coconut oil with a fork, and whisking the egg in vigorously by hand, and the results were very similar.
If you want to make everything by hand, I’ve included instructions in the recipe notes below; however, I find that using a food processor makes the process much easier and results in cookies that are more perfect on average.
These cookies are an absolute necessity to have in your life if you enjoy chewy brownies, desserts that are naturally sweetened, simple recipes, having leftover cookies for snacking on later in the week, or all of the preceding things combined.
Perhaps not until later tonight? On a weeknight, I think most of us have the time and energy for a recipe that requires only one bowl and twenty minutes to prepare, right? Right.
If you decide to make this recipe, please comment below to let me know how it turned out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your cookies and tag me on Instagram.
I’d love to see them! I get so excited when I see one of my recipes being made in someone else’s kitchen!
NOTES
- Be sure to select dates that are big, plump, and sticky while making your selection. I find that if I buy Medjool dates with the pit still in them and remove it myself, the dates have a tendency to retain their freshness for a longer period of time. If the dates you have are dry, you should rehydrate them by soaking them in hot water for fifteen minutes before using them.
- If your coconut oil is solid when it is at room temperature, you can either soften it by running the jar it is stored in under hot water for a minute or two or by placing it in the microwave for ten seconds. Both of these methods will help the oil become more workable.
