A Date to the Ball: a Little Sweet, a Little Spicy, and a Little Nutty Date Balls

It's a date!

Long years ago, when I was still in pigtails (well, not literally. The Bat cut my hair short in first grade so she didn't have to fight the tangles my feral conduct created. But I digress), I took a home economics class. We all did. It was part of the mandatory education program for all young ladies, that, while we were learning to be good future wives by accepting training in sewing, cooking, and cleaning (ecch!), the boys took shop classes. For two short weeks, though, we switched around, so the boy had a clue what was supposed to go on in the kitchen, and we girls got to use a bandsaw, grinder, and buffer to make cheesy plastic jewelry.

It was during this brief interstice that I was introduced to…no, not the Love of Lucite, but The Date. The seventh grade boys got to make a non-sugary candy made from dates and coconut, and then they were encouraged to share their efforts with us guuurrrulls. I got my first and only date ever with the cute boy whose birthday I shared.

I was smitten.

With the food.

(Although, I admit, the boy was nothing to sneeze at. I saw him at our class reunion not too long ago, and he's still tall and handsome. But, again, I digress.)

This is about the medjool variety of dates, not the steady variety.

The delight in this recipe was that the boys did not need to heat up any stovetops, there was no risk that they'd set a pan of sugar on fire and fill the school with smoke. The other blessing was, it was, we were told later, good for us. There was no added sugar, and plenty of nuts, so we got protein and roughage all in a tasty little lump. (Egad! but our home economics teacher was a sly one!)

Well, I finally ran across a variation on that old recipe, after seeing dozens – if not hundreds – of versions requiring loads of sugar and/or corn syrup and boiling and processing half to putty, and decided it was time for me to give the simple recipe a whirl for myself.

And it is amazingly uncomplicated. It's pretty much equal parts dates and nuts, and a little bit of cardamom. And, if you like, a little unsweetened, finely shredded coconut.

The necessities

It does call for a good, sturdy food processor (those little mini ones just won't cut it), or a serious grinder and a good nut-chopper, and then, beyond that, it's just a matter of patience shaping the little balls and rolling them in their coating. I used a 1-inch scoop to help with keeping the balls all the same size, but if you don't have one of those, you can scoop the "dough" with your fingertips and shape just as easily.

Seriously. The shaping thing, you can let tots do.

So give these a try, sometime.

Super-Easy Date-Nut Balls*

Ingredients:
2 cups pistachios without shells (salted ones are acceptable), divided
2 8-ounce packages whole medjool dates, pitted
1/2 teaspoon (or less, depending on your tastes) cardamom
4 Tablespoons finely chopped unsweetened coconut (optional)

Directions:

Place the pistachios in the food processor with basic chopping blade, and pulse for several seconds, then continue to run on low speed until the nuts are finely chopped. Remove from bowl, set aside.

Beginning with a half bag of dates, chop coarsely at low speed, adding a few more dates at a time, until you have created a sticky ball of date. Pulse in the cardamom and 1 1/2 cups chopped pistachios.

Continue to pulse until well-mixed. It should be loosely combined to resemble – dare I say it? – cat kibble (pellets about 3 mm in diameter at the largest). If you want it to be pureed, I suppose you can keep going, but I like to get a little burst of flavor and faint crunch in each bite, so I stop before it's gluey. Besides, you're likely to need to add water to the mixture if you want to get it pureed any more than this, and that means letting the balls dry out longer before they're ready to eat, and…waiting is not my strong point. Is it yours? No? So, let it appear crumbly.

Sorry about the photo quality. Kibble reference notwithstanding, this is moist and crumbly

Place your remaining 1/2 cup of finely chopped pistachios in a small bowl, and your coconut in another bowl nearby.

Take the blade out of the processor bowl and, using a scoop, a spoon, or just your fingertips, begin forming the dough into little 1-inch balls, rolling each one in either the pistachio crumbs or the coconut. Place on a tray and allow to dry a little bit before covering (about 20-30 minutes)

Makes about 60 1-inch balls.



*Yes, I know exactly how naughty that can sound. You have a dirty mind, and I appreciate that.


Update: The Bat is not a big fan of dates, but she approves this recipe – "It's not sickly-sweet!" was her shocked response when I forced her to sample one, this evening. High praise, from her!

Graham Cracker Fudge (aka nutty fudge nougat)

It's a cross between a candy and a no-bake bar cookie. And it's a sin not to nibble.

Some years back (possibly even before I was born), the Bat caved to impulse and picked up one of those little booklets of recipes they put in the racks by the cash registers at the supermarket. We don't usually cave to the allure of candies, or to the wild and woolly displays of the tabloids, but recipes -- well, that's quite another thing. And when the Pillsbury prize-winning ones come out, heck, that's like catnip to us. We don't always have to try every one of them, but we has to has, my precious... That's where this one comes from, originally, with slight variations.

Best made near Christmas, so you can justify making lots of it, and taste-testing every last batch.

When we make a batch, it usually disappears in short order. You can probably imagine why.

They're very rich, and in no wise carb-neutral, but they're butter-and-chocolate heaven. And they can be made wheat-free!

So I went a little nuts…

 

Graham Cracker Fudge

Ingredients:

4 c. sugar

1 c. butter

1 can Milnot (or plain evaporated milk)

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour*

2 c. graham cracker crumbs*

1 1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)†

2 tsp vanilla
 pecan halves (optional)

Directions:

Combine sugar, butter, milk product in 3-quart (or larger) saucepan, bring to a boil stirring constantly.

Once in full rolling boil, allow to continue for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat, stir in remaining ingredients until well-mixed.

Spread into a greased jelly roll pan. Allow to cool (may be refrigerated to speed the setting-up process). Cut into 1-inch squares. Top with nut halves, if desired.

* if you need to prepare this for someone on a gluten-free diet, of course you should substitute 1:1 gluten free all-purpose flour for the regular flour (I have, most recently, been using Pamela's, easily available for subscription via Amazon), and, instead of graham cracker crumbs, use almond meal (almond flour). In the depicted batch, I used the unblanched meal, but there's no set rule on this one. I have discovered that, in fact, using the almond flour instead of graham crumbs makes these more tender. There's a fine line (the difference of less than a teaspoon), in using graham cracker crumbs, when these things go from delightful to dry. That doesn't seem to happen with the nut flour.


†Recently, I experimented with adding coarsely-chopped dried tart cherries, along with the chopped pecans. It was pretty darned spiffy. But these goodies need no embellishment. They're just decadent and sinful all by themselves...