Recipe and photo by Grimgrains, released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA-4.0 license.

Chocolate Turtles

Servings: 20

Preamble

This is a derivative work, adding only the nutrition data found at the end. The original page, if it is still available, contains illustrations and recipe notes not (yet?) mirrored here, so I recommend checking it out at least once, especially if you intend to make this recipe!

This page was generated from an LWL file generated from a YAML file generated from HTML. The source files and code for most of that process can be found at my grimgrains-yaml project page, with the rest being a function of my wiki engine.

This derivative work is likewise released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA-4.0 license.

Ingredients

• deglet noor dates (400 g)
• tahini (45 ml)
• peanuts (72, roasted)
• dark chocolate (200 g)
• coconut oil (30 ml)
• salt (coarse, to taste)

Directions

• Prepare some parchment paper over a baking tray(or a very large dish), enough to accomodate 24 x 5 cm turtles, and lay it on the kitchen counter.
• Remove the pits from 400 g (roughly 50 small dates) of deglet noor dates, chop off the stems, and then chop the dates into smaller pieces. Steam the chopped dates on the stovetop for 10 minutes using a double boiler(with steam basket), or by soaking the dates in hot water. Moistenings the dates with heat makes it easier to grind them into a puree.
• Transfer the softened dates into a food processor, and blend them into a puree. Add 45 ml (3 tbsp) of tahini to the puree, blend again. Set aside.
• Pour 3 cm (1 inch) of water into a pan and bring up to medium heat. In the meantime, transfer 200 g (roughly 7 oz) of dark chocolate chunks into a heat-proof bowl(not plastic). When the water in the pan is hot, add the bowl — the simmering water will melt the chocolate without burning it. Stir in 15 ml (2 tbsp) of coconut oil. When the chocolate is smooth and uniform, remove the bowl from the heat, and pour 24 tablespoonfuls of chocolate over the parchment paper(leaving some space in-between each one). Using the back of a spoon, spread the chocolate into a rough 5 cm circle. This is to form the underside of the turtle, you can also skip this part and coat the underside later(see the last step).
• The pureed dates mixture will be very sticky, we like to keep a bowl of water nearby and to occasionally dip our hands in it to handle it — we make sure to shake off the excess moisture. Pick up enough mixture with your hands to form a small ball(approx. 2.5 cm | 1 inch), flatten them into thick discs, then place one on each 5 cm chocolate circle.
• Use a whole roasted peanut for the head of the turtle. Use peanut halves to make the front and back legs, pressing each peanut gently into the date caramel.
• Pour more chocolate mixture over the top of each turtle, smoothing and distributing the chocolate using the back of a spoon.
• Sprinkle a few grains of coarse sea salt over each turtle, then transfer the tray to the refrigerator(or a cool place) for 30-40 minutes to allow enough time for the chocolate to harden. If left at room temperature, the chocolate will eventually harden, but it will take more time.
• If you waited until now to coat the underside of the turtles with chocolate, you can now flip all of the chocolate turtles(the chocolate needs to be hard) and coat their underside with a thin layer of chocolate using the back of a spoon to better coat the date caramel. Lay each turtle upside down on the baking tray. When the chocolate is hard, fly them right side up again(they'll be a little lopsided, but that's ok).

Nutrition Data (Per Serving)