Date Bombs

Staying power for spending all day in the wintery outdoors.

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Season: Fall, Winter
Dosha: Pitta, Vata

Six ingredients and about 30 minutes is all you need from start to finish here. Simply slit open each date, wedge in a bit of tahini, a favorite nut butter or coconut butter then chill the stuffed dates. Then coat the dates in an easy-to-make chocolate to seal them up. This literally turns the stuffed dates in to bite-sized candy bars! But, this means storing them and porting them requires some consideration.

I recently shared a few insights on how to fuel (and recover) in the winter with my friends at Rapha, including five sure-fire ways to fuel up when the temperature drops, and some favorite recipes too. I created this recipe specifically to share for the occasion because:

This Date Bomb recipe is simple and doesn’t require any special equipment or technical skills. It’s so easy, your kiddos may even be able to help you prepare them as healthy snacks too!

Recipe Notes

  • Ta-hini or Nut: My recipe below suggests swirling together tahini and coconut butter. If you’re not a big tahini person, or you can’t find coconut butter – no stress. Your favorite nut or seed butter will do just fine here. I happen to LOVE Seed + Mill tahini if you are a tahini lover, however.
  • Date it: For dates, I can’t recommend the juicy gems from Rancho Meladuco highly enough. I order by the 5-pound boxes, and sometimes even the 15-pound boxes!
  • On chocolate: I’ve been playing with the Guittard Chocolate Mindful Choices line, specifically a 72% chocolate made with coconut sugar instead of refined sugars! Watch for more from me on this delicious, innovative and thoughful shift in chocolate!
  • ‘Tis the season: Date Bombs are amazing winter snacks; the cooler temps keep the chocolate coating intact, and each date has everything you need to keep on trucking in the cold. But don’t port your dates close to your body when you’re skiing, riding, running or hiking because your body temperature will likely melt the chocolate coating! In warmer months, these aren’t a recommended portable snack because, again, melted chocolate. Enjoy a Date Bomb when you get home from playing outside, or just because you want a tiny, healthy candy-bar-like snack!
  • Storage: When you’re not snacking on the Date Bombs, keep them in the fridge. Bombs will last in the refrigerator for 1 week or the freezer for 1 month. Let come to room temperature before enjoying for best flavor/texture.

Flavor Notes

Flavors are FUN, yes, but they also are the mechanisms by which our bodies nourish themselves. Flavors basically tell our bodies what the food is giving us – on a nutritional and energetic level. Our bodies then prepare enzymes to break those components down, assimilate them, and turn them into fuel for our vibrant lives. We can’t eat just one flavor and get all of the things we need, so learning to track the flavors in our foods helps us to be sure that we’re really getting all of the things we need in our meals. This particular recipe has four of six flavors. The more flavors we can enjoy in any meal or food, the happier and more balanced our bodies will be. If you’re wanting to learn more about how the flavors we eat fuel our bodies – energetically and nutritively, check out this little blog post.

  • SWEET: dates, coconut OR other nut butter, chocolate
  • SALTY: sea salt
  • SOUR: N/A
  • BITTER: chocolate, cacao nibs
  • ASTRINGENT: sesame seeds, tahini
  • PUNGENT: N/A

Date Bombs

Staying power for spending all day in the wintery outdoors.

makes 25 two-bite bombs

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Active Time: 30 minutes

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Serves: bombs

Ingredients

  • 25 whole Medjool dates (as juicy as you can find!)
  • 2 Tbsp tahini (well-stirred)
  • 2 Tbsp coconut butter (slightly melted)
  • 1 FAT pinch flaky sea salt
  • 2 Tbsp cacao nibs (OPTIONAL)
  • 2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds (OPTIONAL)
  • 1 1/4 cup 70% chocolate bars (finely chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil (melted)

Instructions

  • 1Make the chocolate coating

    Add 2″ of water to a medium saucepan and bring to a rolling simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and set a medium glass or ceramic mixing bowl on top, making sure it’s not touching the water (this creates a “double boiler”).

    To the mixing bowl, add the finely chopped chocolate and the coconut oil and let melt, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula until it’s smooth and liquidy – about 2-3 minutes.

    Once the chocolate is melted, carefully remove bowl from heat (turn off stove top) set the mixture in the fridge to chill slightly – about 15 minutes. This will make the coating easier to work with.

  • 2Fill the dates

    In a small bowl, stir together the tahini and the coconut butter. Add a fat pinch of salt. Set aside.

    Next, carefully remove pits from dates and be careful to keep one side of the date intact, as opposed to splitting it into two separate pieces. You’re trying to create little canyon in the date so it’s easy to add/contain the tahini-coconut mixture. Once pitted, fill with tahini-coconut mixture – about 1/2 – 1 tsp depending on size of date.

    Place the dates on a plate or a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop in freezer to chill while chocolate thickens.

  • 3Dip the dates

    Once chocolate has thickened (if it got too thick, briefly microwave or set back over the double boiler to thin very gently), add one date at a time and flip with a fork to fully coat, then tap off any excess chocolate. Set the date back on the parchment baking sheet and immediately sprinkle with the sesame seeds or cacao nibs. Repeat with all of the dates.

    Enjoy immediately and often! Bring to room temperature for the best flavor and texture.

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