Sweet and chewy with a bit of crunch, these easy-to-make chocolate dates with almonds resemble bite-sized candy bars sans the refined sugars and artificial ingredients.
If you aren't using pitted dates, remove the pit from each date. This can be done by slicing across each date lengthwise up to the pit. Then pull the pit out.
Open each date at the opening from which the pit was removed and slip an almond into the date through the slit. (Pitted dates should also already have a cut from which the pit was removed.)
Melt the chocolate
Cut the chocolate into small pieces so that it will be easier to melt. You can melt the chocolate in a double boiler, a special chocolate melting pot, or the microwave.
To melt the chocolate in the microwave, melt in a glass bowl at short, 30 second-or-less intervals. Remove the bowl and stir the chocolate between heatings. The residual heat of the glass helps melt the chocolate slowly without cooking it. This can help keep it in temper if you're lucky.
Cover the dates with chocolate
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
Throw a few dates into the melted chocolate and stir them to fully cover them in chocolate.
Remove the dates, one by one, using a fork. Carefully pick up the date from the form with your thumb and forefinger on either side of the date lengthwise. Allow the excess chocolate to drip off into the bowl and then place the date onto the prepared baking sheet.
Continue to remove all of the dates and transfer them to the baking sheet, keeping space between them on the sheet so that they don't stick together. Continue with the process, adding more dates to the chocolate as needed, until all of the prepared dates have been covered in chocolate.
Allow the dates to cool so that the chocolate hardens.
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Notes
Choose whatever type of chocolate you prefer. You can also use dipping chocolate which tends to harden nice and shiny without needing to worry about tempering chocolate!Soft, chewy dates like Medjoul dates make for really delicious chocolate dates. The softer they are, the more the finished dessert will be like a caramel candy.If you don't like almonds, you can choose another type of nut. You could even try filling them with nut butters or dried coconut chips.Tempering chocolate is a way to keep it looking shiny and hard. It consists of heating and cooling the chocolate in a way that controls the crystallization of the cocoa butter. Untempered chocolate can look dull and/or have white streaks in it. It's not essential to temper the chocolate in this recipe, but if you are set on having hard, shiny chocolate, it's something that you can look into. You can also "cheat" by using special melting chocolates or adding a bit of coconut oil to the chocolate to give it more shine.
Don't waste the excess chocolate
Once you've finished dipping all of the dates, don't throw away the excess chocolate. I like to pour mine into chocolate molds that allow for easy use for the next batch.
Storage
These can be left out at room temperature without any problems. Store them where you normally store your chocolate. If it's really hot out, try to find a cool place to store them so that they don't melt.Storing in the fridge can cause the chocolate to bloom.