2 Smart Ways to Put Dates to Great Use (Cookies! Salad!)

We partnered with our friends at Natural Delights, purveyors of Medjool dates, for our latest contest—Your Best Recipe with Dates.

Our latest contest, Your Best Recipe with Dates, was the first one in quite some time, and you all came out of the gate swinging.

You took dates, delicious on their own, and put on your thinking caps: You roasted them, blended them, and fried them. You churned them into ice cream, folded them into quick breads and muffins, and whirred them into sticky-sweet marinades. You made everything from chicken salad to gougères to focaccia.

Which is all to say that plucking two finalists from the mix was hard—but with the help of our community reviewers, we've narrowed down the contenders. (Now it's your turn to choose the winner by heading to the contest page and casting your vote.)

First up is recordintheden's Date, Halvah, and Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Folding date pieces into cookie dough is a smart move for adding pockets of caramelly squishiness to thin cookies. But this recipe goes beyond that: By mixing plumped-up dates into the dough itself (they practically melt!), every inch of cookie is imbued with an almost butterscotchy sweetness that’s balanced by the slightly savory halvah.

And then, on Team Savory, we have Roasted Cauliflower with Prosciutto and Dates from Jessica. By taking advantage of naturally contrasting flavors and textures, this recipe achieves a streamlined ingredient list and method, without any unnecessary spices (or steps). It's a hands-off, crowd-pleasing dinner party side—but you can also mix it into a cooked grains for a take-to-work lunch.

So which will it be? Head to the contest page to cast your vote!

We partnered with our friends at Natural Delights, purveyors of Medjool dates, for our latest contest—Your Best Recipe with Dates.