Dates are the sweetness and the energy of the Saharan oasis, and stuffing them with almond paste is a classic North African and Saharan confection. Rich and ancient, they are the desert's natural candy.
Bite a stuffed date and the soft, intensely sweet fruit gives way to the cool, nutty almond paste inside, the honey glaze adding a sticky sheen. Bite: candy-sweet and chewy from the date, rich and marzipan-like from the almond, a tiny luxurious morsel. The sweet of the oasis, eaten one by one with glasses of mint tea.
Dates are naturally very high in sugar, so they need no cooking — only a contrasting filling. The ground-almond paste adds richness, fat, and a cool nuttiness against the date's intense caramel sweetness; a brush of honey glazes and binds. A no-bake confection built on the oasis's two treasures.
Variations
With walnut instead. With pistachio. Rolled in sesame. With orange-blossom water. With a clove. Dipped in chocolate (modern).
On the Palate
Where Stuffed Dates sits in the Sahrawi flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
7 steps · 25 min active + 5 min waiting
- 16 min
Grind almonds with a little sugar to a coarse paste.
- 23 min
Add a spoon of honey and work into a pliable filling.
Watch outWork in just enough honey to bind the ground almonds into a paste that holds its shape — too much and it turns sticky and slumps out of the date.
- 36 min
Slit each date along one side and remove the pit.
- 46 min
Press a small log of almond paste into each date.
Watch outPress a neat log into each pitted date and pinch it just closed — leave the paste peeking so it shows; the date should still hold its plump shape.
- 53 min
Warm a little honey and brush lightly over the stuffed dates.
- 63 min
Arrange on a plate.
- 73 min
Serve with mint tea.
