I’ve been buying these amazing chocolate date balls from a local shop. Only 2 ingredients – dates and 100% chocolate. They clearly put the dates in a food processor first to make a pulp, then roll the pulp into balls and then coat that in chocolate. They are rather pricey considering that the recipe is so super simple so I came up with this! Deliciousness itself:)
If you are a chocolate purist like me, you will love using 100% chocolate. I eat raw cocao beans with just a touch of honey all the time. For those of you who are more into milk or mellow dark chocolate (like 40-55% dark), perhaps then consider adding a bit of agave to the melted cacao paste to sweeten it up a bit. Alternatively, you could melt your favourite plain chocolate bar and use that instead.
Ingredients
- medjool dates
- cacao paste (100% chocolate) – See note above for alternatives
- little wooden sticks
Instructions
Firstly, place a silicone baking pan/mat in your freezer. Then, melt the cacao paste in a double boiler. While it is melting, make a small slit at the base of the date and extract the pip. I used a tweezers for this. Then shove the stick into the date and squish the date firmly around it to secure it. When the cacao is melted, holding the date on a stick over the bowl of chocolate, carefully spoon the chocolate over the date so that it is entirely covered. Carefully place the date on a stick on top of the silicone in your freezer. The chocolate will set in a few minutes (about 5) at which point you can remove the date on a stick and store it in the fridge.
I like to make a big batch and store it in a sealed container in my fridge for when the need arises;)
Enjoy!
Dr T