Dates | Aapplemint

Orange Date Madeleines

Jul 312012

Just as Ramadan and fasting are synonymous, so are Fasting and Dates. You will not find any household that is observing the holy month of Ramadan without dates. Dates have a great significance, and the tradition of eating them go back to the 7th century. I won’t give you a lesson in history about them, but I will tell you why they are the best thing to have after fasting . During the period of Ramadan, when fasting lasts from sunrise to sunset, the body can develop mild health problems such as headaches, low blood sugar, and lethargy. To avoid such problems, one should carefully monitor their eating habits once fasting for the day has ended. Dates are an excellent source of fiber, sugar, magnesium, potassium, and have carbohydrates which will aid the body in maintaining health. The carbohydrates found in dates also make the fruit a slower digesting food, much better than fried or fatty foods which digest fast and leave one hungry for more!

Having told you that, here’s how the inspiration for these madeleines came about … Every evening at Iftar ( fast breaking time) our table has these staples – Dates, Oranges, 1 other fruit and a soup or a snack. A week into fasting and I’m already bored of the regular and was thinking tomorrow I want to break my fast with cake. Well as you might already know I simply adore cake, and I believe life is too short and one must have cake everyday. In any form or shape. A layered cake would’ve been too much, so I thought madeleines would be prefect bite sized cuties. Flavours … why not do the Ramadan theme … Dates n Star Anise and to add that zing the oranges ! I have to tell you this recipe is a keeper. Its probably the magic of Ramadan that makes everything taste so good and perfect, but these Madeleines turned out really unexpected. They are soft , just perfectly sweet with that light hint of the star anise and the orangey flavour kicks right in. My perfect Ramadan Madeleines

Ingredients

makes 24 madeleines

150 gms pitted and chopped dates
3 tablespoons of your favourite orange marmalade (make sire they have those delicious orangey bits in them )
200 ml hot water
1tsp Soda Bi Carb
2-3 Star Anise
pinch of salt
170 gms flour
60 gms cane sugar
60 gms butter
2 large eggs
1tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Grease the Madeleine tins with butter and set aside.

Place the chopped dates & star anise a bowl and pour boiling water straight out of a kettle onto it. Mix in the marmalade and soda bi carb and let it sit for about 10 mins. Meanwhile cream the butter and sugar with light and fluffy. One by one mix in the eggs well. Now add the date mixture ( first remove the star anise) and give it another good mix. Gently fold in the sifted flour and baking powder, not knocking out too much air. Now fill the molds 3/4 full. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for about 15 mins. Repeat if using a 12 mold tin. This batter makes exactly 24. Sift lightly with caster sugar when ready to serve.

Date And Roasted Almond Ice Cream

All, Dessert 75 Responses »

Oct 012008

Oh yes! Its another post with dates …You can’t blame me for using this wonderful fruit so much these last couple of weeks. Its sweet, its creamy, its dulcet, its luscious, its nutritious, and above all its simply irresistible n I just can’t seem to get enough of it. I used them in semolina cookies – Ma’moul and I also made Date Truffles. I was thinking, what else can I possibly use dates in, and then hubby said, why don’t you make ice cream ! And just that second I knew what I wanted to do. Since I’ve never had date ice cream before, I had to try it out. Another flavour I really love is toasted almond. And I had a feeling that these two would be magnificent together. And I couldn’t have been more correct! This ice cream turned out so good, I couldn’t stop telling myself what a good job I’ve done !

But firstly I’d like to wish everyone Eid Mubarak! The month of fasting and steadfast prayer has finally come to an end. This Ramadan went by so quickly I cant believe its already a month! And this wonderful date and roasted almond ice cream is just the perfect sweet to celebrate this wonderful day.

6 egg yolks
2 ½ cup semi skimmed milk
2 cups whipping cream
¾ th cup fine granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed pitted and finely chopped dates
¾ th cup almond slivers
½ tbsp butter
First start with making the custard. Bring the sugar, milk and cream gently to a boil. Turn of the heat and set aside. Remove about a cup n half of this liquid and put it in the blender along with the dates and puree it. Set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks. Whisk 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into egg yolks; pour yolk mixture into pan. Stir constantly over low heat until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 4 to 6 minutes; do not boil. Now add the date puree to this mixture and mix very well, and let it cool to room temperature. Pack it in an airtight container and chill it in the fridge overnight. And since you’re already in the kitchen, u might as well use this time to slow roast the almond slivers. Slice them finely, and on a very small flame toast the almonds in a frying pan, till they are slightly crisp. Now remove from pan, and add the butter to the pan. As soon as it melts bring back the almonds to the pan and roast till light brown and an aromatic earthy smell fills up the kitchen. Cool n store in airtight container for next day. Also you might need to put your ice cream maker in the freezer the night before so don’t forget to do that!
Now when you’re ready to make the ice cream, pour in the date custard mix into the maker and as it churns add in the roasted almond slivers 1 tablespoon at a time, making sure they mix evenly. Freeze in an airtight container for atleast 6 hrs before serving. When serving, garnish with some more of the roasted almonds. This portion should make 10-12 servings.

Wanna Date ??

All, Dessert 65 Responses »

Sep 112008

Hell no ! Not that date :p …where is your mind ?? And no those are not truffles … but something even better and healthier. I’m talking about the fruit – date !
Breaking the fast with dates is a Ramadan tradition. After fasting from dawn to dusk, which is roughly a bit more than 13 hours, a date is the most perfect fruit to start with. One of the many physical benefits of breaking the fast with dates is that our body benefits from the date’s high level of natural sugars. Sugars travel most quickly to the liver, where they are converted into energy more quickly than any other nutrient. A sudden bombardment with food could be a shock to the empty stomach after a day of fasting. Eating a date first helps the body start its digestive process and gives it the energy to deal with the secondary, more complex foods, eaten during Iftar.

Dates are also high in vitamins A and B6, folic acid, potassium, natural sodium, iron, and magnesium. Thus, eating dates daily during Ramadan is like taking a daily multivitamin. This daily multivitamin can create a stronger and healthier body, one more fit for fasting. Dates also contain large amounts of dietary fiber, which can prevent any constipation that might result from eating the traditionally rich foods served during Ramadan. Additionally, dates protect the stomach and intestinal tract from parasites and bacteria, and thus is a good preventative medicine. Dates also have a special place in Islam. In fact, they were one of the Prophet’s (SAW) most frequently consumed foods. For this reason, their benefit is most likely spiritual as well as physical.

You can have them just the way they are, or you can also get creative with them. By now i think i might have developed the reputation of a lazy cook, as most of my recipes are effortless. So be it … lets add one more to the collection

All you have to do is de-seed about 1/2 kg of dried dates. Cut them up in small pieces and then mash them up forming a paste. Knead it just like you would knead dough to get a uniform and smooth texture. Keep a bowl of water ready, as you may need to dip your hands every time they get sticky. Make small balls and roll into desired topping. I’ve used desiccated coconut, sesame seeds, colourful sprinkles … go for whatever is in your cupboard. Put them in little paper cups. Get your kids to help you out, they would love to make these. They make perfect gifts, for Eid, Christmas … any occasion at all !

Last Ramadan i made these lovely Date n Nut Rolls

Am linking this to Kitchen Flavours, for The Joy of Feasting and Fasting.

Ma’moul

All, Baking 72 Responses »

Aug 092008

Ma’moul is a beautiful Middle Eastern cookie. Made from Semolina and stuffed with dates, its hard not to like it.Traditionally they are made in wooden stamp molds a lot like the Chinese mooncakes and are available with different fillings of dates and nuts. I bought some from a Lebanese supermarket the other day, and realized how much i loved them and had to make my own. Obviously as usual, like every creative cook, i had to give it my twist Also i did not have the molds and rolled them with hand instead.They turned out a bit different than i expected, but I’m guessing that’s cuz its homemade and not made on an commercial level. Also recipes differ from person to person, but i quite loved these.

1 cup flour
2 cups semolina
230 gms butter
1/4 th cup sugar
1/4 th tsp baking powder
2 tbsp orange blossom water
1/4th cup water
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups pitted dates
100 gms unsalted pistachios

Start with mixing the dry ingredients i.e the flour, semolina, salt, baking powder together. In another bowl, cream the butter n sugar together till light n creamy. Slowly fold in the dry mixture and then lightly knead in with the orange blossom water and the normal water. Dont be afraid the water is not too much, the semolina will soak it all up. Cover and keep aside for 30 mins. In the meantime chop the dates with a heavy cleaver and mash it all together making a paste. Now roll them in elongated rolls, and keep it ready to stuff the cookies. Chop the pistachios roughly and spread them on a plate. To make the cookies simple take a decent amt in you hand, roll and ball and push in the date filling and cover it with the cookie dough, roll in the pistachios and put it on your silicon baking sheet. Bake for 15 mins at 180C . Remove and cool completely, and try not to eat them while they are still warm , as you may feel a little disappointed. They taste better a few hrs after baking. I would’ve loved to tell you how many this portion makes, but I’ve lost count, i ate far too many and by the time i finished baking i packed the rest off to my mum in law … after taking these pictures ofcourse !

Dry Fruit Roll

All, Miscellaneous 24 Responses »

Oct 012007

With the Ramadan going on there is abundance of beautiful dry fruits available around here these days. I think I’ve mentioned earlier that in Ghana we have a good population of the Lebanese community, and thankfully they have 2 supermarkets here in Accra/Tema without which i don’t think i would’ve survived this country. So being the holy month of Ramadan, they have filled up the supermarkets with exotic Lebanese sweets, tasty traditional treats and wonderful imports of dried figs and dates. When i saw these of course like any food junkie had to buy some right away. And after eating more than half of them just the way they came, and bursting into a face full of zits (oh yes…this stuff is pretty heaty !) i thought now what else can i do with these ? Before i could give it 2 mins of thought, once again it was my hubby to come up with something. He said i used to make these date ” mithai ” (sweet) with all the dry fruits in it … why dont we make that. Its pretty easy, requires nuthing really … just a little bit of effort. I was game, so on a Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do we started making these beautiful discs of goodness. Of course with both of us tucking our hands into the jars and mixing everything up , the measurements flew out of the window. So I’m really sorry i wouldn’t be able to give u some. But then again in u don’t really need them anyways. Just follow your heart.
water to prevent your hands from getting sticky.Ok now i think i covered everything :p . Take the wooden board and place a big piece of cling film on it. Start by spreading out the date paste onto it in a rectangular shape. Make sure its even and we’re going to have to roll it up later. If your hands get sticky dip them in water , and continue. Once we’ve achieved that place the mixed almonds, walnuts, pinenuts in the center and sprinkle the saffron over it. Carefully bring up the sides of the cling film and form a roll/log, enclosing all the nuts in the center. Smooth out the surface and put it in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour just to firm it up a bit. Then get it out of the cling film , sprinkle all the pistachios on a wooden board surface and roll the log in it , covering every bit of it in the beautiful green pistachios. Put in back into the cling film and into the fridge for another 1/2 hr , so that it is firm again. When youStart with a few dried dates- remove the seed and a few dried figs. Roll up your sleeves and on a wooden chopping board start squishing them with your fingers. Yes its a messy affair but its absolutely worth it. Keep going on and on till they have both amalgamated into one fine paste. Keep aside . Now comes the chopping bit. Take 2 handfuls of pistachios and chop them finely as we need these for the finishing touch. Set aside. And now take some almonds, walnuts, and pinenuts, roughly chop them up , this we will use as the center filling. So now with everything ready … oops i forgot, we need some Saffron strands as well , some cling film and also a bowl of are ready bring it out and cut them into even slices. Thats it ! All natural, all healthy and stays in the fridge almost forever , thats if you’ve devoured them by night fall :p .