4-Ingredient Stuffed Dates: with home-made almond butter & Chocolate -

These 4-ingredient stuffed dates are a delicious, more-ish healthy vegan snack with home-made almond butter and dark chocolate!

Vegan, Gluten-free, Paleo, naturally-sweet… you name it. These 4-ingredient stuffed dates are super delicious while remaining a healthy vegan snack! Plus using home-made almond butter takes these snacks to the next level!

Not to mention that the majority of the ingredients needed are probably already in your kitchen! The only issue is that they’re SO delicious that you might want to eat them all in one sitting! They never last very long in my apartment! However, they are also great for curbing unhealthy cravings.

The sweet and indulgent Medjool dates mixed with creamy home-made almond butter, bitter dark chocolate and the sprinkle of salt make for a treat that satisfy every craving! However, feel free to mix up what type of dates you use. While Medjool dates are super decadent, cheaper varieties can be super delicious too and just as addictive.

Plus, if you’re looking for an even easier way to prepare these for ‘lazy days’ then feel free to forego the chocolate dipping step and simply place a small chunk of dark chocolate into each stuffed date alongside the almond butter and voila!

So Why make your own Almond butter?

Honestly, I know it might seem like it’s not worth the effort to make your own almond butter if you haven’t done previously BUT this recipe is literally TWO ingredients – Almonds & a sprinkle of sea salt. So you know exactly what is inside the almond butter and don’t have to worry about additional oils, preservatives etc in store-bought versions.

Plus the process is super simple: Roast the almonds for around 10 minutes and then blend, blend, blend! Roasting helps release the natural oils from within the nuts so that it’s not necessary to add any other oils.

Plus, You can buy a bulk bag of almonds from a Mediterranean store or food market to reduce the cost and keep the recipe in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

4-Ingredient Stuffed Dates Recipe:

Makes: 12 stuffed date snacks

Preparing Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

12 Medjool dates
2 cups almonds
200 gr dark unsweetened chocolate
Pink salt
Edible flowers (optional)

Directions

Start by roasting the almonds in the oven at 165°C for 10 mins.

Once roasted, add the almonds immediately to a high-speed food processor/blender, add a pinch of salt and then blend until desired consistency. The longer you blend, the runnier the home-made almond butter will be.

Give your blender/food processor a bit of rest if it’s heating up. Some processors might take up to 10 minutes to blend to a buttery consistency so don’t give up and keep on blending.

Note: Almond butter can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
De-seed the dates by carefully opening then in two, like a book. Don’t cut them completely in two.
Melt the chocolate. Best to use dark (~80%), unsweetened chocolate. It doesn’t need to be sweet as the dates are the sweet element. Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler, alternatively, you could also melt it in the microwave in 10-second increments.
You are ready to assemble the chocolate dates.

First, spoon some almond butter inside each date and then close them again. I like to try stuff as much as possible but probably use 1/2-1 tsp per date
Dip each date into the chocolate. I pierced them with a wooden skewer to help me dip them. Put them on a cooling rack or other mesh trays, to allow for any extra chocolate to drip.
Decorate with edible flowers and sprinkle with salt. Enjoy!