A revelatory flavor combination, this recipe has, hands down, the highest reward-to-effort ratio in this book. If you make one recipe, try this one. When dates are harvested in late summer and early fall, they are at what is known as the rutab stage, with flesh that is custard-soft and lush. Where I live in the northeast Unites States, it's also tomato harvest season, my favorite time of year. This dish is transcendent when made with peak-season rutab dates and summer's finest tomatoes, but you can make it with hydroponic midwinter cherry tomatoes and regular Medjools and still find yourself greedily mopping up the buttery remains. 

Use just enough yuzu kosho to add fragrance and a breath of heat without overwhelming the other flavors. If you can't find yuzu kosho, don't let that stop you: This dish is good with just the butter! Sometimes I like to omit the kosho anyway and stir a tablespoon of good red wine vinegar, along with an extra-generous pinch of flaky salt, into the hot butter instead; other times I go with red pepper flakes and lime zest. Not the same, but differently delicious.

Hot Date: Sweet & Savory Recipes Celebrating the Date, From Party Food to Everyday Feasts

tomato and dates on a plate in Food52 test kitchen

Rutab & Summer Tomatoes With Sizzling Brown Butter

"It was pizza night, and at the grocery store, Frost headed straight for Humboldt Fog cheese and prosciutto. Then she said, “I think our pizza would be good with pickles.” Her finale? Chick-fil-A sauce. She wanted a stinky goat cheese, pickle, and pig pizza that she could dip. “You’re a monster,” I told her. “I love you.” Like Frost, I ask myself, what can I do to make a pizza sing? I always have extra sauce and dough in the freezer, so the components that take the longest are already on deck. To ramp up the dough’s flavor, I swap the water for a cold-infused ancho chile stock. But you can infuse it with any fruit or veg that contains sugars to feed the yeast. Forget the pizza peel. It’s easier to use a sheet pan set right on top of the pizza stone. With toppings, I make sure every bite incorporates sweet, spicy, meaty, and fresh things. The honey is optional; use it if you want."—

Date, Sopressata, Arugula, and Smoked Gouda Pizza

 (Ella Henry) makes the most of the season’s prettiest produce—radicchio, celery, dates, and pistachios, all tossed in a bright lemon vinaigrette. It’s endlessly adaptable: swap in pink apples, different lettuce varieties, or your favorite cheese and nuts. Make it ahead by prepping the components, then mix and match throughout the week for easy lunches and dinners. For an extra crunch, use up the rest of a day-old sourdough loaf by making homemade croutons to go on top.

Chopped Radicchio Salad With Sourdough Croutons by Ella Henry

"The Lake District has given us many great things: some of the most beautiful scenery in the British Isles, William Wordsworth, Grasmere Gingerbread, and the glory that is Sticky Toffee Pudding. My STP is altogether deeper and darker than the original version: it is still sweet, but the dark brown sugar and molasses give it an almost savage intensity. It seems redolent of ginger, cloves, allspice—and yet none of these spices are used. It's a miracle. I don't understand it—but then, miracles are not to be questioned. It shouldn't be eaten piping hot, but warm; once the sponge has been topped with a glaze of the sauce, and had its 30 minutes' waiting time, it will be at optimum temperature. And cold—should you have any leftovers—a slab of it cut from the dish tastes like the most magnificent sticky gingerbread. You will find it easier to measure out the molasses if you run your spoon under a hot tap first."—

Nigella Lawson's Sticky Toffee Pudding

These ooey-gooey vegan chocolate bars are the perfect sweet treat to grab while on the go, munch on after a hearty dinner, or indulge in after a long day at work. I have been making a variation of this recipe since high school, and they’re still a kitchen staple of mine to this day. At one point, I even convinced half of my relatives to make them—everyone had so much fun creating their own take on the concept, it came to a point where we had a group chat dedicated to sharing our homemade bars each week (fun!).

This particular version doubles down on the chocolate (I used Montezuma’s delicious vegan dark and milk chocolates, which are made by the sea in the South East of England) with a chocolate hazelnut base and a chocolate coating sprinkled with sea salt. To complement those rich chocolatey, nutty flavors, I also included a silky, salty-sweet date mixture in the filling. Depending on the texture you’re aiming for, the finished bars can be stored in a cabinet in your kitchen, in the fridge, or in the freezer if you’re feeling frisky.
 
I think the best part about this recipe is its versatility; you can use it as a guide to make your own creations. Play around with the base of the dessert—instead of hazelnuts, you could use peanuts, sunflower seeds, cashews, or a mix of nuts and seeds—or add other dried fruits like goji berries, sour cherries, or blueberries. You can even try using two or three different types of chocolate—just have fun with it!

Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Bars

Searching for a foolproof way to cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts that you can actually get excited about? You and me both, as I typically find chicken breasts to be lacking in flavor and difficult to cook through without drying out. That’s why I came up with this bacon-wrapped chicken recipe that takes its cues from Devils on Horseback, the classic party appetizer of roasted dates wrapped in bacon and stuffed in blue cheese. It’s a preparation that checks all of the boxes for me: always tender, well-seasoned meat; lots of big, bold, complementary flavors, and simple, streamlined steps that are easy to execute on a busy night.

Here’s why it works so well: The bacon provides a fatty blanket that keeps the lean breasts flavorful and moist, and the spice rub plus maple-chile glaze amp up the flavors more still. The method of searing the bacon-wrapped breasts first on the stovetop, then finishing in the oven, ensures crispy bacon and juicy chicken with minimal hands-on time. Plump dates roast alongside the chicken, soaking up the savory, rendered fat. Even better, when the chicken is done roasting, you’re left with a ready-made pan sauce (flavored with bacon drippings, spices, and the sweet-spicy glaze) that’s easily transformed into a crazy-good vinaigrette that practically cries out for peppery greens, sharp blue cheese, and those sticky-savory-sweet roasted dates. 

I think of this dinner as really good chicken plus a bonus salad, all by way of one skillet!

A few notes and tips: I love this simple spice rub of paprika and coriander, but let your spice cabinet lead the way—for example, 3 teaspoons of chili powder plus ¾ teaspoon of brown sugar is a nice alternative. Change up the salad components, too—virtually any type of greens will work nicely, as will other types of cheese. Or feel free to skip the leafy greens altogether: the vinaigrette and tender dates are great spooned over couscous, rice, or pasta.

One-Skillet Bacon-Wrapped Chicken With Dates, Arugula & Blue Cheese

A few years ago I went on a mission to make a blondie as fudgy as a brownie—which was surprisingly hard to achieve without cocoa. My solution? Add dates for a squidgy texture. I’ve customized date blondies many ways, but this one, inspired by sticky toffee pudding, is my absolute favorite. 

In my experience, unpitted dates are far stickier than the pitted ones. Removing the pits may seem like a pain, but luckily I’ve found a handy trick. To pit and “chop” the dates, use a pair of kitchen shears—a tip I inherited as a food stylist when I worked on a television segment for Nigella Lawson, who recommends this snipping technique when making her festive holiday fruitcake. Whenever I chop dates with a knife, somehow the stickiness ends up on half of the kitchen. Nigella’s way is much quicker and cleaner.  

Since the bars are incredibly gooey, the age-old toothpick test won’t work to check doneness. When you start to notice some browning along the edges, they’re ready to come out. And if they look a little underdone in the center still, they’re just right! 


Sticky Toffee Blondies 

Stuffed dates are a simple and sweet way to elevate your holiday party table. With no cooking required, this low-fuss dish is as tasty as it is festive. The flavors here lean on the sweet side, so you can serve it as an appetizer 

 a dessert. Fresh goat cheese is relatively mild and welcomes other flavor additions, so I blended in some lemon, spicy honey, and thyme. Fill each date with the cheese mixture, then top with a crunchy sesame almond (which you can find at many grocery stores; if not, you can substitute with salted almonds, pecans, or walnuts). I like to use the leftover thyme leaves and stems to garnish this dish, making a wreath shape for a festive look.

Goat-Cheese-Stuffed Dates

My father, approaching 80, retired from decades of work as a diamond dealer and jeweler a few weeks before the pandemic began. Bound to his home and alone with his memories, he finally had time to think about his past. Dish by dish, he began revisiting his life story in the kitchen. With the help of his sisters in Or Yehuda and Ramat Gan, in Israel, he attempted re-creating his mother’s recipes, spending months recipe-testing and developing his own versions of each dish. Soon, he was delivering care packages of freshly baked pastries to relatives and colleagues who were mourning tragic losses—and mailing others to us, his family scattered around the world.

This Hanukkah, my father—who is still in the kitchen—has decided to bake traditional Iraqi date cookies called baba tamar. They’re round, with dough on the outside and dates tucked inside, and covered in sesame seeds. They’re sweet, but not too sweet. They remind him of Iraq—a land that, when he lived there, was well known for its palm trees and their luscious dates—and of his mother, who transformed them into holiday pastries. We cannot wait to receive his shipment of these cookies in the mail. We’ll eat them as we light our candles.


Baba Tamar (Date Cookies)

Ka’ak and ma’amoul are quintessential holiday cookies around the Arab world. This recipe takes a traditional Palestinian variation and uses mulled wine spices to give it a festive flair. For ease of preparation, it is also formed into finger cookies rather than the traditional bracelet shape. 

Note: Mulling spices can be found in most grocery stores this time of year. Simply grind into a fine powder and use. If unavailable or if you don’t have a grinder, substitute with ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, and ½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest.   

Mulled Wine Ka'ak

This dairy-free version of eggnog will blow your mind. It's rich, creamy, and it's just the right amount of sweet. Serve it spiked, or simply warm up a cup for a perfect, wintery afternoon treat.

Vegan Eggnog

Before this recipe, I considered pancakes junk food. Now I eat pancakes for breakfast most days of the week. Buckwheat groats, the foundation of this pancake, are not to be confused with buckwheat flour. The groat is the whole seed of the buckwheat plant, most often sold “hulled” to remove its bitter outer layer. Buckwheat flour on the other hand, is ground with the bitter hull of the seed included, and while it has its place, I find it far too earthy to make crowd-pleasing pancakes. Besides being delicious, buckwheat groats are rich in protein, fiber, and a variety of antioxidants. They have a low glycemic index and they are gluten-free. If you have a sourdough starter and you’re looking for a place to use the discard, add a spoonful to the batter and blend before cooking. 

Reprinted from Arty Parties: An Entertaining Cookbook by Julia Sherman. Photos by Julia Sherman. Published by Abrams.

Gluten-Free Buckwheat Groat Pancakes

I was away from home for most of my early 20s—Cambridge for college, Paris for culinary school, and New York for work. Being away from my motherland of Malaysia for so long, it was only natural that on top on the list of things I missed was my mom’s cooking. Of all her hearty, Cantonese-style steamed fish and soy-braised stews, Shaoxing-scented stir fries and silky tofu dishes, sweet tong suis and classic kuihs, it was her pork and peanut soup that I missed the most.

It is a humble, unassuming soup—pork and peanuts simply simmered low and slow for hours until the flavors meld—that by no means shows off the full extent of Mom’s cooking chops. But it’s a soup that serves as a simple, hearty reminder of my Malaysian home. Whenever Mom would think of making this soup, she’ll head to her neighborhood butcher early in the morning to get pork bones—cartilage-encrusted hunks of backbone, with pockets of collagen-rippled meat—make a stop to the Chinese herb shop on the way back for some peanuts, and, back home, throw both together in a big ceramic pot of water. She’ll let them simmer over the stovetop until dinner, when we’ll share about our day in between wafts of soup steam and intermittent slurps of us trying to get at the fatty meat glistening in between the bones.

Pork and peanuts are the nonnegotiable heart and soul of the soup, but any flavor additions are welcome too. Some days, mom would throw in lotus root, red dates, water spinach leaves, or if she’s feeling particularly luxuriant, extra pork belly too, the fat stewed till gelatinous and the meat melting under the softest bite. On days that she’s pressed for time, she’ll bring out the pressure cooker to hasten the cooking process, and we’ll hear its rhythmic hiss late in the evening, an auditory appetizer. 

In my years away from home, I’ve made pork and peanut soup three times. (This isn’t to say I only missed home thrice.) The first was during my fresher’s year of university in the U.K. Paralleling my mom’s ritual of getting ingredients the day of cooking, I bought bony chunks of pork knuckle from Sainsbury’s on a walk to town, then cycled 20 minutes to Cho Mee, the only Asian supermarket in Cambridge, for some raw shelled peanuts. I tossed both pork and peanuts into the largest pot I had, and left them to simmer as I went back to my books. 

Three hours later, I lifted the lid off my pot, and was instantly disappointed as mine looked nothing like Mom’s. My broth was murky where Mom’s had a clean milkiness from the pork bones; my peanuts were hard, boiled pebbles compared to Mom’s (soft, practically pureed themselves in between your teeth). Over Skype that night , Mom shared the crucial steps of the recipe: blanching the pork and soaking the peanuts. (I looked at mine and thought: rookie mistakes. Dinner that night dampened my memory of the dish, and only served to make me miss my mom’s cooking, and home, even more than before.

The next two times I made it, to soothe bouts of homesickness, I remembered to blanch the pork, and soaked the legumes hours before I made the soup. Still, the bowls of soup were never quite as satisfying as Mom’s, and I quickly gave up trying to replicate her cooking, submitting to the adage that Mom indeed does it best. 

Now that I’m back home in Malaysia with my parents, and have been throughout this pandemic, I’m ever more appreciative of Mom’s pork and peanut soup, the proper recipe for which you’ll find below. Each time she makes it, I’ll sneak into the kitchen, pop open the lid of the simmering brew and let the porky steam envelop me. Over dinner, I’ll ladle out a bowl for her and for myself, and slurp on it, scalding my lips in the process, but warming my heart—like no soup of my own ever could. 

Mom's Pork Soup With Peanuts & Lotus Root

Though not even approaching being eligible for a beauty contest, this cake seems to be irresistible. It stays fresh and gooey for days (that is if there's any left) and it's really very simple. The recipe originated in a community cookbook that I used regularly for years. The cake was always delicious but, over the years I've changed things--NO nuts--raisins--raisins soaked in Rum--but now I've settled on adding dates soaked in Apple Brandy (or Calvados if you're feeling flush!) Sometimes I substitute brown sugar for half the white sugar. As I say, NOT pretty, but well worth it. 

Heavenly Apple Brandy Cake

There are many variations of banana bread out there, and I’ve tried and loved almost every single one of them. So it felt absolutely necessary to include one with the addition of some of my favorite flavors, including Medjool dates, which I fell in love with when I was living in Israel. This version isn’t overly sweet, namely because it uses plump dates instead of a ton of sugar. Their honey- caramel, jammy, candy flavor brings out the natural sweetness of the banana and coconut. Since I’ll take any opportunity I can get to add a crumb topping, this bread also gets a coconut-walnut crumble that takes the cake to the next level. I love slathering this bread with room-temp butter, creamy date jam, and honey, and finishing with a sprinkle of sea salt. I’m drooling just thinking about it. Dates were basically born to be made into a sticky, just- the-right-amount-of-sweet jam that goes well with any- thing you’re serving in the morning. 

 (2020) by Eden Grinshpan with permission from Clarkson Potter.

Date Banana Bread With Date Jam 

Tweaked from 101 Cookbooks, these cupcakes actually contain barely any sugar at all. They're sweetened with dates and ripe bananas, but you'd never guess it from the taste.

They're topped with a smear of fluffy, maple-spiked cream cheese frosting. You'll fold in just enough whipped cream to give it cupcake-worthy airiness without losing the tang of the cream cheese. The verdict? Excited exclamations of, "It's like cheesecake whipped cream!" Try it, you'll be excited, too. - MigrantKitchen

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

 of Fig Newtons as a kid. Since my very health-conscious parents didn’t allow us to tiptoe into the “dangerous” world of actual cookies, they were as close to dessert as we got. I still have such a soft spot for them, and these chewy squares are very reminiscent of the store-bought variety, only easier to make at home. Dates accomplish a similar texture and flavor profile as figs, but are a little sweeter and also have a smoother (no seeds!) consistency, which I like in the filling. Using whole-wheat flour gives the outside of the square that wonderfully nutty taste that I always associate with Fig Newtons, and coconut oil (rather than butter) gives the cookie that classic soft, squishy texture. Instead of making individual squares with the cookie wrapped around the filling as Fig Newtons are shaped, this recipe takes a simpler approach: Just press half the dough into the pan, spread the filling on top, then top with the rest of the dough. You get the same sandwiched experience to the cookie without the fuss and bother of piping the filling and rolling the dough up around it. If you want to play around with the flavors, try adding a touch of cinnamon or cardamom to the cookie dough. Another route is to add some spice to the filling: You can try black pepper, star anise, or five-spice powder.

Chewy Date Squares

I've taken to swapping in tahini in recipes where peanut or almond butter is called for—I’m very into adding spoonfuls of it to cookie dough, dressing, hot chocolate, smoothies, and shakes! Since it’s now officially summer, I think it’s high-time to spend any free moments sitting outside and drinking cold drinks. And that often means cool and creamy tahini shakes, which are basically milkshakes for breakfast—get excited! I’ve made a pact with myself to take fifteen minutes every morning to drink one of these, read a few pages of very important literature (Twitter), and not think about anything else. And then those precious minutes are over and it’s back to reality.

Tahini Date Shake 

The idea of a citrus salad isn’t new but, every year, right about now, I'm reminded how very simple yet very stunning pinwheels of oranges, mandarins, or grapefruit can easily turn a blah salad into an impressive one. This recipe is eye-catching and also a refresh of the usual ingredient list: no avocado and pickled onions here. Instead, dates and almonds, fried in brown butter, transform into an unctuous vinaigrette that smooths over the tangy citrus and soaks into hearty escarole. 

This brown butter vinaigrette is served warm because it solidifies as it cools. For that reason, starting with room-temperature citrus, escarole, and dates goes a long way. To temper the citrus and dates, leave them out on your counter for about an hour before starting the rest of the recipe. The escarole only needs about 30 minutes (in a breathable bag, out of direct sunlight). 

This salad calls for tart blood oranges and juicy navel oranges but, as the season rolls along, all kinds of citrus can be swapped in: cara cara, mandarins, even grapefruit. The only caveat is they should have good acidity to balance out the sugary dates.

Without the greens, this salad works as a not-too-sweet dessert as well.

Citrus Salad With Brown Butter Vinaigrette, Dates & Almonds

From Sweet Laurel Bakery’s cookbook: “This was the cake that changed everything. Our whole company, and point of view, is founded on this cake. Decadent, rich, beautiful, and intensely chocolaty, it flies in the face of people who don’t think you can have your cake and be grain-free, too. This cake is a showstopper, so get ready—people will freak out over it.” Featured in: 

The Insane (Grain-Free!) Chocolate Cake That Literally Changed Everything

The Chocolate Cake That Changed Everything

I'll never turn down a shortbread cookie for dessert, but offer me a savory-sweet one 

 dinner that pairs perfectly with cheese and a glass of bubbles? Yes, please! This was my thinking when creating these delightfully rich, crumbly shortbread squares that can go from aperitif to dessert to second breakfast (don’t judge). They perfectly straddle the line between savory and sweet, and I love how the salty, tangy bites of blue cheese—I used Kerrygold’s Cashel Blue—are punctuated by the sweet dates and earthy rosemary. And happily, they’re a cinch to make: Start with cold, salted butter straight from the fridge (European-style butter with 82% fat, like Kerrygold, makes exceptional shortbread). Make the dough in the bowl of a food processor, then press it directly into a sheet pan—no dough rolling or log forming required—and bake until golden brown. By scoring the shortbread with a knife into squares before baking, they’re easy to cut and remove from the pan when they’re done. All of this means that in under an hour, you can have a batch of these beauties ready to go—for happy hour, snacking, and everything in between. Cheers to that!

Date, Blue Cheese & Rosemary Shortbread

Adapted from a recipe originally published in the New York Times. Of the atraditional stuffing, chef Suzanne Goin says: “it’s loose, laid-back and doing its own thing, California-style.”

Sourdough Stuffing With Kale, Dates & Sausage

We have an abundance of radishes and carrots (and beets) in our garden.  This bread is a good way to get my kids to eat even more veggies.  The fat is from nuts, not butter or oil, and the sugar is from dates.  You can even throw in a banana and oatmeal if you want.  

Radish-carrot date nut bread

Though these sautéed dates are a sound match for a bubbly drink (Erickson serves them next to a pile of ricotta), Molly Wizenberg also likes to eat the dates over yogurt for breakfast. You could also pit them first and add them to salad or even scrambled or fried eggs, a comforting Middle Eastern breakfast. But my favorite riff is how my friend Nozlee Samadzadeh served them at a dinner party celebrating the recipes celebrated by Wizenberg on Orangette. Nozlee pitted the dates before sautéing them, then spilled them and their oil over a pool of Greek yogurt that had been thinned with more olive oil. It was a thing of beauty, cool yogurt against warm dates and everywhere good oil and salt, that we were able to sweep up all together with slices of baguette. Adapted slightly from 

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