Pecan Date Bites

I’ve never baked with dates before. Not even the super standard Date Bars that most people have baked that aren’t me.

Did you know dates have pits? Don’t just take a knife and try to cut through them in one fell swoop. It will be bad. You know why? Because dates have pits. Cut around the pits.

It will go much better to cut around the pits. That is my point of advice to take home from this post, if nothing else.

Since date bars are the standard baking application for dates, I didn’t make them.

Wait, what? I don’t know. That was my logic at the time. It doesn’t make a lot of sense in hindsight, but it was my reason. I think it was me trying to prove to myself that just because I didn’t know how to use an ingredient didn’t mean that I had to go the safe route.

Or maybe I wanted an even safer route. Because this isn’t a fancy recipe. The process is not unlike a glorified rice krispy square. Lots of stuff goes in a pot, delicious stuff comes out of the pot. There seems to be a lot of those on my mind lately. I think it’s because it’s summer and convincing myself to turn on the oven is not a simple task.

So, Amanda + dates = ?

I think deliciousness, if I may say so myself. There’s a lot of sugar in this recipe, but the sweetness from the dates themselves are what make these really interesting. It’s a darker sweetness and it’s not quite as sharp. I foresee more dates in my future.

There’s no pits in these. I promise. Those crunchy bits are pecans. Probably.

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 8 ounces dates, pitted and chopped
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup crisp rice cereal
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat combine the butter, dates, egg yolks and sugars. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.
2. Remove from heat stir in the rice cereal, chopped pecans and vanilla. Stir and let cool.
3. Put confectioners’ sugar in a small ziploc bag.
4. When you can handle the date mixture, roll into small balls then add to bag of confectioners’ sugar, 3-4 balls at a time. (You can test the temperature without burning yourself by scooping a little into a metal spoon and touching the bottom of the spoon.) Seal bag and shake to evenly coat balls. Cool completely before storing. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature.

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