Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 150g (5 oz) butter
- 500g (3 1/2 cups) pitted dates, finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 100g (1/2 cup) sugar
- 200g (2 2/3 cups) biscuit crumbs
- 100g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter gently and add the dates.
- Turn up the heat to medium and stir until the dates start to dissolve. Remove from heat.
- In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg and sugar together.
- Add a little of the date mixture to the egg mixture to raise its temperature and prevent it from curdling.
- Add the egg mixture to the date mixture.
- Add the biscuit crumbs to the date mixture and stir until all have been incorporated.
- Roll into walnut-size balls and then roll in the coconut.
- Leave in the fridge to firm up.
Notes
- Sometimes dates are really dried out, hard and chewy, in which case you need to soak them in warm water for around an hour until they’ve softened. If you skip this step, you risk the dates not gelling well with the butter.
- A variation on the coconut is rolling the balls in finely chopped pistachio nuts.
- You can give the balls a filling by pushing a cherry or macadamia nut into the centre of the balls.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: Egyptian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 109
- Sugar: 5.9 g
- Sodium: 106 mg
- Fat: 7.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 10.5 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 16 mg