Stuffed Dates

May 14, 2018 by Yasemin Ari Leave a Comment

Stuffed Dates

Here’s a sinfully decadent vegan dessert that is healthy at the same time.
Looks delicious and is always a party favorite as an appetizer.
It is very easy to make, no baking or cooking involved.

Ingredients:

25 Medjool dates, pitted, halved
½ cup almond butter (cashew butter, hazelnut butter, peanut butter, or any combination of mixed nut butter can be used in place of almond butter)
1/3 cup pistachio meat, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Cut pitted dates in half, set on a clean surface.
Using a knife, spread almond butter on the dates, mostly filling the small crevice in the middle, about ½ teaspoon on each piece.
Sprinkle chopped pistachios on stuffed dates
Place stuffed dates on a serving plate, enjoy!

You can store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week. For best flavor, make sure you let it come to room temperature before serving.

Dates halved and pitted

Dates stuffed with almond butter

Sprinkle pistachio meat on stuffed dates

Variation: Dates stuffed with sesame paste (tahini) and topped with walnuts:

Dates Stuffed with Sesame Paste and Walnuts

Ingredients:

25 Medjool dates, pitted, halved
1/4 cup sesame paste (Tahini). This is sold in Middle Eastern grocery stores. It is most commonly used for making hummus.
25 pieces of walnut halves or quarters

Directions:

Cut dates in half, remove the pits, set on a clean surface.
Using a knife, spread sesame paste (tahini) on the dates, mostly filling the small crevice in the middle. Do not use too much for it will run on the sides of the dates
Place walnut halves (or quarters) on stuffed dates
Place stuffed dates on a serving plate. Cover with plastic wrap, place in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes allowing it to set.
Remove from the refrigerator when ready to serve. Enjoy!

Dates stuffed with sesame paste (Tahini)

Top the stuffed dates with walnut halves

Assorted Stuffed Dates

Rainbow Fruit Tower

March 20, 2015 by Yasemin Ari Leave a Comment

Rainbow Fruit Tower

Here’s a refreshing fruit dessert that looks appetizing and tastes heavenly.
It is easy to make, easy to serve. It makes a great breakfast/brunch dessert as well.
I’m very thankful to Gonul hanim for this wonderful recipe. Enjoy!
…

Walnut Stuffed Figs – Cevizli Kuru İncir Tatlısı

July 22, 2012 by Yasemin Ari Leave a Comment

Walnut Stuffed Figs – Cevizli Kuru İncir Tatlısı

I grew up in the Western part of Turkey. The region we lived in (Aydin) is famous for its figs. When I was a kid, figs were never sold in the market or stores. Most everybody in our town had fig groves. For those families like mine who were not farmers, your neighbors would send you baskets full of fresh figs almost every morning. They were huge baskets (or maybe I was little), lined with grape leaves at the bottom to serve as a cushion for the fruits, a layer of grapes on the leaves and figs on the top. They only pick the very ripe ones and so early in the morning that there would still be dew on the fruit.

Figs are very rich in fiber. For this reason I guess, adults used to warn us kids that if we drink too much water after eating figs, we would have diarrhea. Luckyly nobody ever listened to the advise. We did eat figs and drank water to our hearts’ desire, and of course, nothing happened.

Come winter, we had dried figs. Most evenings, for dessert, people used to eat dried figs with walnuts stuffed in them. I call them fig bombs. They are delicious though not exactly your low calorie snack.

Figs stuffed with walnuts: Fig Bombs!

My grandmother used to make this dessert with dry figs at least a couple of times every winter.

Ingredients:

1 lb dried figs
2 cups warm water to soak the figs
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 table spoon unsalted butter
Handful of walnuts for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Wash and drain the figs. In a bowl, let the figs soak in warm water for 30 minutes.

Put butter in a shallow pot. Heat the pot until butter melts. Spread the butter to the bottom as evenly as possible. Turn off heat.

Remove figs from water. Cut the tops. Open up a hole at the top. Fill each fig with walnuts. Place them in the shallow pot with the openings at the top.

In a separate pot, combine milk, water and sugar. Warm it, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk mixture to the figs. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let it cool to room temperature. Transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with walnuts.

Dry Figs

Tops removed, ready to be stuffed

Coarsly chopped walnuts

Figs stuffed with walnuts

Stuffed figs cooking in milk-sugar mixture

Walnut Stuffed Figs – Cevizli Kuru İncir Tatlısı

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Apricot Jam – Kayisi Reçeli

May 11, 2012 by Yasemin Ari Leave a Comment

Apricot Jam

With their velvety skin, “melts in your mouth” taste and fantastic aroma, apricots are undoubtedly one of the delicacies of summer.

Apricot jam is great on bread for breakfast, but you can also use it as a refreshing fruit sauce over ice cream. Recipe below calls for 2 cups of sugar, but depending on how ripe or tart the fruit is, you may need to add more sugar to it.

Apricots

Ingredients:

1 lb apricots
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

Wash apricots, remove pits and cut each one into 4 pieces. Place apricot in a bowl. Pour sugar over apricot. Leave for about 2 hours or overnight. Apricots will release their juices, forming a syrup. Place apricots with the syrup in a pot. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil over medium heat. When it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and let it simmer. Remove any foam that might form on the top with a spoon. Take a small spoonful of the cooking mixture, place on a plate, let it cool and taste to see if it is sweet enough. Add sugar if necessary, stir gently. Cook until apricots are translucent and the syrup thickens, about 20 minutes. Let it cool to room temperature. Place in a glass jar and keep in the refrigerator.