Chocolate Dates Truffles | Chocolate Date Bliss Balls

Dates are always associated with Ramadan. Somehow, it  pops up first! Eating dates during suhoor and Iftar is considered to be one of the best Sunnahs.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “How excellent are dates as the believer’s suhoor.” [Abu Dawood, Ibn Hibban and al-Baihaqee; saheeh] (Source)

Anas ibn Malik said: “The Prophet ﷺ used to break his fast before praying by eating fresh dates, and if there were no fresh dates he would eat dried dates; if there were no dried dates, he would have a few sips of water.” [al-Sawm, 632; classed as saheeh by al-Albani in Saheeh Abu Dawood, no. 560, Islamqa.com]

This year, we actually didn’t have to buy any dates. We had received a huge box of lovely dates from HD’s local friend, that I had thought would take majority of it for my parents and mattamma – a huge date fanatic – when I would be going home for my TMJ treatment. I was supposed to go mid March, which I then moved to mid April, and as of now my ticket stands cancelled, because we have no clue when the flights are going to restart. Now we are the ones who are enjoying those dates. Before Ramadan, whenever the girls would come hunting for something sweet, we would ask them to eat dates. And now they are literally hooked to it. We always prefer eating fresh dates over anything else but sometimes bliss balls do come in handy if you want to ensure that the goodness of dates along with nuts get into the kids.

This is another version of bliss balls, except that there is a little crunch in the form of the rice crispies and little chocolate kick in between. Last year, I had picked up a couple of handouts from the supermarket aisle during my Ramadan shopping and it was hidden between my cookbooks. A couple of weeks ago, while cleaning and rearranging, it resurfaced and B was particularly intrigued by the recipe. He is not someone who enters the kitchen except for eating and leaving his plate in the sink, so when he showed so much interest in making it, his wife and I were obviously perplexed. When he went out for grocery that week, he got the chocolate and the puffed rice to go into the recipe.

This may be the first time he got so involved into making something with his own hands, even though my SIL had to assist him with de-seeding the dates and grinding it for him. It always happens, isn’t it? Why do men need a sous chef all the time? Hehe… After finishing the whole thing, you should have seen him standing in the kitchen. It was such a sight! I don’t want to keep writing, lest he think that I am pulling his leg. Hehe… Nonetheless, these truffles were amazing. I totally loved the crispiness of the puffed rice, which stayed even the next day. I would really suggest you to make these if you get the sweet cravings after dinners during Ramadan. They are easy to make and delicious too… Off to the recipe, giving full credit to the person who made it… 😉

Chocolate Dates Truffles | Chocolate Date Bliss Balls

Course Dessert

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 -6

Author Rafeeda

Ingredients

• 250 gm pitted dates
• 120 gm chocolate chopped coarsely
• 15 gm butter melted
• 1/4 cup puffed rice
• 1/4 cup grated coconut
• 1 tsp orange blossom water refer notes
• 2 tbsp coarsely crushed nuts to coat

Instructions

• Blitz the dates till it becomes a paste.
• Fold in the remaining ingredients except the crushed nuts into a dough.
• Roll into small sized balls, around 15-20.
• Set them in the fridge for 10 minutes.
• Roll them into the nuts powder and enjoy cold.

Notes

You can replace the orange blossom water with rose water or maybe completely omit it out. We absolutely loved the flavor.
You can replace the rice crispies with roughly chopped nuts of choice.