Dates and Nuts Desserts

Duality inspired by two beautiful people, or, to be more precise, two beautiful ladies who’ve never met, caused the appearance of this dessert on my Shavuos table. Dates have a dual meaning for this holiday. First of all, one of the explanations for a dairy menu on Shavuos is the verse  from The Song of Songs “Honey and milk under your tongue,” where King Solomon allegorically refers to the words of Torah given on Shavuos. Secondly, Shavuos is also called Hag haBikkurim, the holiday of the first fruits, when the offerings gathered from the “land of wheat and barley, of grape vines, figs and pomegranates, and land of olives for oil and [date] honey” (Dvorim 8:8) were brought to the Bais haMikdash.  Even though there has always been an argument as to which honey is meant here, most authorities today agree on date honey, rather than bee honey, as the Hebrew word devash in the Torah actually refers to date honey.

The first beautiful lady, my daughter-in-law, serves dates either plain or stuffed with almonds, which is a Moroccan and Tunisian tradition. Rolled in coconut flakes, they look like this:

Basically, you get some pitted dates (Medjool are the best) and some blanched almonds, stuff almonds into dates, lick your fingers (wash them afterwards!), and roll them in coconut flakes.  Then the second beautiful lady, Eva Xanthopoulos of Health Mastery Movement, posted a recipe for Date and Nut Bites, and I thought, why not something different?

Sure, Eva meant it as a snack, but after a serious four-course holiday meal, it could be a nice light dessert, couldn’t it? So I made the amount given in her post. One fell apart – sorry, Eva! – and became a chef’s bonus. My palate informed me that I was approaching heaven. Then my husband came home and tried one. The he tried another one. Then I made a triple portion and hid it from him until the guests came. I didn’t have time to take a picture already, but Eva’s pictures are so much better than mine, so please click on healthmasterymovement.com and swoon! Thank you, Eva, for contributing this heavenly delight to my holiday table!