These sweets have a delightful surprise in them.
Dates are simmered in a cinnamon glaze, then stuffed with roasted almonds to create a gooey, crunchy treat that’s both satisfying and healthy.
They take a bit of time to make, but if you have almonds and dates lying around, this is an elegant way to use them up.
Ingredients
- About 20 large dates, like medjool dates if you can find them
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- 1/4 lemon, squeezed
- About 20 roasted almonds
Directions
You can either buy roasted almonds or use this recipe.
Gently boil the dates in the water until they are soft and tender. Save the water in the fridge for the next day.
Drain the dates in a colander until they are fairly dry, then use a chopstick to gently push out the pits.
Add the pitted dates to a small pot and mix with the coconut sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, take the dates out of the sugar, put them on a plate, and add the water you saved to the pot with the sugar.
Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon to the sugar and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer until it has become a nice thick syrup.
Gently press one or two roasted almonds into each date.
Add the almond-stuffed dates to the thick syrup and boil gently for about 10 minutes to soak the dates in the spiced sweet goodness.
Cool to room temperature and serve, or store in an airtight container for later enjoyment.
Inspiration
For today’s inspiration, I’d like to offer the work of Dr. Haesun Moon at the University of Toronto.
She studies how humans talk to each other, and she has come up with a way to classify all conversations into 4 corners of a DOQ, or Dialogic Orientation Quadrant.
Most conversations can fit somewhere on a timeline from past to future, so that’s the horizontal axis.
And often we’re either talking about something we want, or something we don’t want, which is the vertical axis.
So the 4 quadrants to classify any conversation are:
1. Preferred Future (future, what we want)
2. Resourceful Past (past, what we appreciated)
3. Troubled Past (past, what we didn’t want)
4. Dreaded Future (future, what we don’t want).
I’m finding it very useful to be more mindful of the things I talk about.
Most of us probably spend a lot of time in one quadrant. 🙂
If I catch myself spending too much time in the past or on the more negative side of things, I can honor that and gently remind myself to move more towards a positive future.
I hope this helps you in your conversations as well!
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