Recipes with Dates

[MelissaH]

The newest book by Joanne Chang, Baking with Less Sugar, has a bunch of recipes for baked goods where dates are used as the only source of sweetener. I haven't tried any of those recipes yet, but the others from the book that I've tried (blueberry bran muffins, coconut chiffon cake, honey cashew morning buns) have been winners. She takes the dates and cooks them in a bit of water with baking soda so they break down, and uses the resulting syrupy mixture as the sweetening agent in the baked good.

[heidih]

Heidi Swanson on her blog 101 cookbooks just posted a super simple interesting broiled date with ghee, saffron,  and almond extract

 

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/broiled-saffron-dates-recipe.html

 

Our classic at mom's parties was stuffed with a water chesnut, wrapped in bacon and broiled till crispy and gooey - much loved

[Indy D]

So this weekend I had breakfast with my Persian brother-in-law and it was served with sauteed dates. You basically had various items on your plate and you mix and match the items however you want and put them on flat bread. Some good combinations I found were:

• Flat bread w/ dates, sarshir cream, and honey
• Flat bread w/ dates, cheese, sarshir cream, and honey
• Flat bread w/ dates, cheese, eggs, and sarshir cream

You basically couldn't go wrong with the sauteed dates, though. A note, the sarshir cream is a very thick, spreadable cream that has a slightly buttery flavor. The flat bread was relatively airy but not too soft (barbari, i think). The cheese is a briny sheep cheese that you rinse off before serving and is quite flavorful, so I used it in moderation. I was impressed by how simple and delicious this breakfast was.