Candied Dates
These candied dates are the perfect utterly delicious sweet treat to whip up this holiday season. Soft, sweet dates are tossed in a spicy and flavorful honey and brown sugar mixture and baked until they dry up a bit.
These dried dates are chewy, sweet and spicy all at the same time, and are a great healthy candy to make and share with your family! These have become a total favorite in my household, right alongside my cream cheese stuffed dates.
I have to admit- I don’t exactly love dates, and while I’ve tried using them to sweeten my desserts and to make my homemade date puree and date syrup, but I really wanted to give them a different twist this time.
And that’s when I tried out this recipe. These turned out so good, and are perfect to feature on holiday cheese boards, alongside crackers, cranberry butter, honey fermented cranberries and other festive appetizers.
Quick Look: Candied Dates
- 🔪 Prep time: 5 minutes.
- ⏲️ Cook time: 10 minutes.
- 👪 Servings: 6.
- 📋 Main ingredients: Medjool dates, brown sugar, cayenne, honey, rosemary.
- ♨️ Cooking method: Melt → caramelize → coat the dates → cool and serve.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Very easy.
- 🥣 Serving ideas: Serve as a sweet snack, dessert, or add to cheese board along with Boursin cheese, yogurt bowls, oatmeal, ice cream, pancakes, or waffles.
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What's So Great About the Recipe?
- These spicy sugared dates are actually healthy. If you’ve made those date balls packed with nuts aka energy balls, you’ll love the unique, festive flavor these wickedly delicious treats bring.
- They’re the perfect holiday treat you can enjoy with your entire family. I love batch making these and gifting them to my family and friends- just like my cocoa dusted almonds.
Recipe Ingredients
Medjool dates: We’ll start off with Medjool dates, which are the best quality, soft and juicy dates. You’ll find these most commonly used in dessert recipes.
Rosemary: I also used some fresh rosemary leaves to add a subtle, sweet flavor to the snack.
Brown sugar: Brown sugar melts beautifully when in the oven, and coats the dates while lending it that caramel-like flavor. You can also use strawberry sugar if you want a slightly different flavor.
Honey: I also used a bit of honey to create a nice glaze around the dates. You can skip this if you want to keep it vegan.
Cayenne pepper: A dash of cayenne pepper to add a bit of heat to cut through the sweetness of the other ingredients.
See recipe card for quantities.
Also Read: Can You Freeze Medjool Dates + Tips & Tricks to Freeze Them
Substitutions & Variations
- If you don’t have Medjool dates, you can try this recipe with other dates too. Just remember to choose a variety that is softer and has more water content for best results. Delget Noor is a good choice to consider.
- Don’t have brown sugar? Use organic cane sugar, which adds a nice glittery crunch factor to the dates.
- You can also use maple syrup as an alternative to the honey for this recipe.
- For an extra depth of flavor, use habanero honey, spiced orange honey or any other infused honey of your choice.
How to Make Candied Dates
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the dates into halves and remove the pits.
In a bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients and add the dates.
Stir to combine until the dates are all coated well.
Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them for 8-10 minutes.
Also Read: 12+ Recipes with Date Paste Worth Checking Out
Tips & Tricks to Nail the Recipe
- Want to add a bit of crunch factor and some healthy goodness into these dates? Instead of halving them, use a knife to make a lengthwise slit into them, remove the pit and stuff them with some coarsely chopped walnuts, almonds or pecans.
- If you don’t have soft dates that the recipe calls for, you can simply soak your halved harder dates into some warm water for about 30 minutes to get them nice and plump.
- Don’t forget to grease the baking sheet with some butter or cooking spray before you transfer the dates on them.
- You can also roll the dates in some dried coconut flakes or desiccated coconut along with the other ingredients to bring in a bit of a variation. I love sprinkling some crispy coconut curds over them for a bit of texture.
- You can also choose to air fry the dates if you don't want to turn on your oven. Just make sure you check the dates at the 5 minute mark, shake them up a bit and pop them back in again.
- You can store the candied dates in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for weeks. If you’re concerned about them going bad, you can pop them in the fridge too.
- If you still have some extra dates, use them to make homemade date sugar or a batch of date caramel sauce.
How to Use Candied Dates
These candied dates are a great snack snack to have after a run or a workout session, but that’s not all.
They’re actually a great appetizer to have on your holiday table. I love making them during Christmas- alongside spiced Christmas jam and some spiced pear butter, adding them to cute little jars and gifting them to my family and friends. You can also chop some of these up and add them to your salads to bring a nice bit of flavor and some unique texture.
More Sides and Snacks
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this candied dates recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Candied Dates
Ingredients
- 12 Medjool dates pitted and torn
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper more or less to taste
Instructions
- Slice the dates into halves and remove the pits.
- In a bowl, mix all the remaining ingredients and add the dates.
- Stir to combine until the dates are all coated well.
- Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake them for 8-10 minutes.
