Date and Tahini Delight

Simple, delicious, and made with only four ingredients, Date and Tahini Delight is a voluptuous sweet treat refined enough to grace a holiday table, and delicious enough to provide a transcendent bite to uplift your day.

The idea for this recipe came from a middle eastern joint I went to a few times that served a small dish of premium tahini alongside tender, richly flavoured medjool dates. The experience of sopping up the superlative tahini with sections of the moist, chewy dates was a taste experience that lodged itself firmly in my memory, and I knew this combination would be a favourite from that point on. I started serving my own version at the beginning of special meals, and I will never forget the expression of delight, pleasure, and deep satisfaction that shone from the face of a friend who broke his nineteen-day fast by eating this lush morsel. For me, that cemented the place of this recipe as an all time favourite.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• A note on choosing medjool dates
• Method
• Storage
• More holiday offerings to explore
• Date and Tahini Treat
• Recent Favourites

Ingredients

• Medjool dates
• Tahini
• Maple syrup
• Flaked sea salt

Using only four ingredients, Date and Tahini Treat makes the most of what may be kitchen regulars in your house, as they are in mine.

Large, plump Medjool dates - the monarch of the date world - offer the sweet, dried fruit flavour of earthy caramel, with a soft and toothsome texture. I use whole, unpitted dates, as the pit comes away so easily when the date is torn open that it doesn’t present a problem, as long as your eaters know a pit is preset!

Smooth tahini, made entirely from sesame seeds, is nutty, rich, and velvety with a touch of mild, pleasing bitterness; my favourites are this local brand and this widely available brand.

Maple syrup, dark grade if you can find it, offers a complimentary sweet flavour note that is bright and mineral-rich. While dark maple syrup is almost like maple molasses in its robust intensity, and my personal preference, the more widely available amber syrup will do just fine in its stead.

To balance all the sweetness and richness of the date, maple, and tahini, shards of flaky sea salt add a balancing salinity and a little bit of textural variety to bring everything together.

A note on choosing medjool dates

Originating in Morocco, Medjool dates are quite commonly available, depending on where you live. While in general Medjool dates are large, soft, and fleshy, they do age, becoming drier over time. A recently produced Medjool date will be plump, almost juicy, with visible stickiness or moisture streaks on the surface, and is easily torn apart. Medjool dates that have been sitting in a store or cupboard for a number of months can be quite a bit chewier, sometimes to the point of being leathery, visibly dry looking, smaller in size, and somewhat less of a pleasure to eat in this way. I save those drier dates for cooking, and make sure to find the freshest, plumpest looking dates for this dish in particular.

Method

As it takes literally seconds to prepare, Date and Tahini Treat can be made anytime the mood strikes. For a special dinner, or if I’m making this treat as a midday snack for myself, I still plate it up the same way as I think it looks rather marvelous and inviting.

Using a small plate, drizzle a scoop of tahini into the centre, followed by a drizzle of maple syrup. Place a single medjool date on top, and finish the dish by sprinkling shards of flaky sea salt on top. That's it! 

This is a dish eaten by hand. To eat Date and Tahini Treat, take the date, tear it open and scoop up as much of the sweet salty tahini as possible, and then repeat until the date is finished. In truth, I almost always reach for another date to sop up all of what remains of the tahini and maple sauce. With this in mind, I usually place a dish of extra dates at the table so that my guests can do the same, and they certainly do!

Storage

Date and Tahini Delight is best made as close to serving time as possible, in order to preserve the lovely streaks of maple syrup in the tahini. If you have leftover servings that you intend to eat later, simply cover at room temperature and nosh when the mood strikes; the tahini sauce on the plate may look a bit more muddled by the flavour will be the same.

More holiday offerings to explore

Recent Favourites