Do Dates With Butter Really Style Like Cookie Dough?

Each time my mother baked cookies whereas I used to be rising up, I might, with out fail, sneak a chunk or two of the cookie dough. In actual fact, if I nonetheless lived at residence, I’d undoubtedly nonetheless be grabbing chunks of cookie dough at any time when she was whipping up a batch of baked items.

However sadly, now that I’m an grownup residing in my very own condo, the justified well being warnings in regards to the risks of consuming uncooked flour and uncooked eggs — to not point out the value of the latter — preserve me from making an enormous batch of cookie dough and simply digging in with a spoon. To fill the cookie dough-sized void in my coronary heart and eating regimen, I made a decision to attempt a easy snack that’s been making the rounds on TikTok and Instagram for a number of months: dates filled with butter and topped with salt.

When you’ve scrolled by way of meals movies for quite a lot of hours up to now yr, then it’s seemingly you’ve observed a typical pattern, and it’s straightforward to grasp the enchantment. Along with requiring simply three elements, creators are engaging audiences with the daring declare that this deal with tastes like cookie dough.

This snack is especially interesting in the event you’re making an attempt to chop down on refined sugar or can’t eat gluten, and it’s handy for anybody who is brief on time. However does it truly style just like the pure, decadent pleasure of uncooked cookie dough? I endeavored to seek out out.

Do dates with butter and salt style like cookie dough?

The brief reply is “sort of.” Unsurprisingly, a date crammed with a pat of butter and a sprinkle of salt doesn’t style precisely like cookie dough — you’ll undoubtedly discover the distinction — nevertheless it comes a lot nearer than I anticipated.

First, a delicate, plump date has the same thickness, chunk, and texture to a bit of cookie dough. Whereas the date is barely extra fibrous, making them not texturally an identical, it feels quite a bit such as you’re biting into sticky, dense dough. As you chew, a date has a barely grainy texture, and when mixed with its caramelized sweetness, it nearly gives the look that you simply’re consuming brown sugar — a sensation and taste that strongly jogs my memory of cookie dough.

The richness of the butter is crucial, because it balances the intense sweetness of the date itself, and makes the deal with style exceptionally decadent — it has robust notes of brown butter, harking back to the perfect chocolate chip cookies.

To really fulfill your cookie dough craving, don’t skip the salt, which provides complexity and steadiness. Collectively, these three parts present a lot of what you search in cookie dough: wealthy, delicate, sticky, candy, and with a contact of salt in each chunk. Whereas this would possibly not fully fulfill your longing for cookie dough, in the event you’re looking for one thing that fulfills that need and is far more weeknight-friendly, it will do the trick.

How do you make this snack?

For this candy deal with, you’ll wish to begin with Medjool dates. This number of date is understood for its giant dimension, delicate texture, and caramel-like brown sugar style. All three of those qualities are important for each mimicking the flavour of cookie dough and permitting the date to simply maintain butter. Different date varieties, just like the Deglet Noor, are smaller and firmer, making them logistically tougher to rework into what is actually a small sandwich inside a date.

You’ll be able to both buy pitted dates or pit them your self. As soon as the pit is eliminated, open it up lengthwise (a pitted date will already be reduce on one facet and must be straightforward to easily open), however don’t tear it fully into two halves. You need the pores and skin on one facet of the date to stay intact, like a hinge holding the 2 halves collectively.

Reduce a small dab of chilly, unsalted butter — round ⅛ to ¼ of an inch thick — and place it contained in the opening you’ve made within the date. Lastly, high it off with a sprinkle of salt. Many creators on-line have used flaky sea salt to garnish the snack, however common kosher salt works simply as nicely. 

Be beneficiant with the quantity of salt you add to steadiness out the intensely candy taste of the dates. (When you solely have salted butter out there, you possibly can undoubtedly use that, however cut back the quantity of salt you sprinkle on high accordingly.)

When you can’t have dairy, I like to recommend utilizing a cultured vegan butter to fill your dates. You may additionally attempt coconut oil, so long as it’s stored cool sufficient to keep up a strong texture, nevertheless it gained’t have the tanginess that dairy butter or its cultured substitutes impart.

How one can customise this deal with

Whereas this snack will be stored to only three elements, you may as well customise it with some straightforward additions if you would like. The most well-liked topping for these butter dates, and the one I loved probably the most after making an attempt a number of variations, is chocolate chips. Not solely do the chocolate chips give the candy bites the flavour of chocolate chip cookie dough, however additionally they present a pleasing textural distinction to the softness of the opposite elements. Bittersweet chocolate chips work greatest, as a result of the date is already fairly candy.

Think about including a sprinkle of cinnamon to the dates for an oatmeal cookie vibe, or embrace a small quantity of your favourite nut butter if you want. Simply make sure you place the cinnamon contained in the date below the butter — you don’t wish to threat inhaling free cinnamon — and keep away from utilizing an excessive amount of, as it may be fairly potent. When you resolve so as to add nut butter, barely cut back the quantity of dairy butter to forestall a very wealthy snack.

I’ve additionally heard that mixing dates, chocolate, peanut butter, and a pinch of salt creates a candy deal with harking back to a Snickers bar, which provides me one other concept for what to do with the field of dates in my pantry.