I think we might call these a riff on the classic "Turtles" except these don't require the fussiness of making caramel. If you like making caramel, then be my guest, but, a chewy date under some lightly toasted pecans that get drenched in chocolate is about as much work as I am willing to put in. The toasting of the pecans gives them more flavour, and I wouldn't skip this step.

Ingredients

10 dates - ours don't have pits, but obviously remove them if yours do!)
1/2 cup raw pecans 65 g
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 85 g
Salt flakes for garnish

Makes 10 turtles

Instructions

Do ahead:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° F
  2. Place pecans on a baking sheet, place in the oven for 8 minutes, shake half-way through. After 8 minutes, turn off the oven and leave the pecans to cool fully.

Next steps:

  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Open your dates in half, and place them on the parchment paper. Give yourself room between each one.
  3. Cover with another sheet of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin or a jar, and fully flatten the dates.
  4. Put a few pecans on each of the dates, I like them to be quite nutty, so I squish quite a few on there.
  5. Set aside
  6. Place your chocolate chips in a double boiler, stir as they start to melt.
  7. Once all of the chocolate is melted, use a spoon to ladle over your pecans. You should use about 2/3 of the chocolate. 
  8. Once covered in chocolate, wait a few minutes for the chocolate to set up a bit, and sprinkle with salt flakes.
  9. Pop the mixture into the freezer to set, this should only take about 20 minutes for the chocolate to set, remove from the freezer, lift the little turtles up, they should hold together nicely once the chocolate is set, and gently place them one at a time in the remaining chocolate to coat the bottoms. Reheat the chocolate if needed.
  10. Place them back on the parchment, bottom side down, and then pop them in the freezer to fully set. They will release very easily from the parchment paper!
  11. Once set, remove from the freezer and take them off of the parchment, store in a container in the fridge.

Enjoy!