Marzipan Stuffed Dates

id="recipetitle"class="fn">Marzipan Stuffed Dates

I fricken love dates. One year on Christmas Eve we had "dates three ways". This included the "original" date; simply stuffed with cream cheese, a "savory" date; stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in bacon and then baked, and these "dessert" dates; stuffed with marzipan and dipped in chocolate. That year my friend told me that after eating so many dates he felt "outdated"... Yeah, that happened.

I first had these delightful dates in Victoria at my Aunt and Uncle's. The recipe has been adapted from the Thrify Food's website.

INGREDIENTS

1 package of whole dates
1 package of marzipan
1/2 bag of either milk or dark chocolate chips
shelled, crushed pistachios


DIRECTIONS

1) Cut a slit lengthwise in each date. Mold the marzipan into a log shape and stuff each date. Squeeze the date shut but leave a bit of the marzipan showing.

2) Place parchment on a baking sheet. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Dip each date halfway into the melted chocolate and place marzipan side up on the baking sheet. Sprinkle chocolate with crushed pistachios. Continue until all dates have been coated and sprinkled.

3) Place in the fridge to set the chocolate and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Yield: A very large amount.

Keep these in the fridge and they will last a very long time. So, make them early and pull them out whenever you need to bring a Christmas treat somewhere!