Date Halva

This Date Halva recipe is from A Spicy Touch Cookbook, written by 2021 Taste Canada Hall of Fame Honoree Noorbanu Nimji, along with her co-author Karen Anderson. “This stores well in the freezer and makes a delicious treat that you can pull out for your guests to enjoy with coffee after dinner.

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Date Halva

Course Dessert
Total Time 29 minutes
Servings 2 rolls
Author Noorbanu Nimji and Karen Anderson, authors of A Spicy Touch Cookbook

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 lb chopped pitted dates
  • 2 cups mixed unsalted nuts almonds, cashews, pistachios
  • ½ cup desiccated coconut

Instructions

  • Combine the whipping cream, sugar and dates in a saucepan on medium heat, and cook stirring constantly until thick and shiny (about 10 minutes) when patted with a spoon.
  • Stir in the nuts and cook for another 5 minutes.
  • Cool the mixture to a temperature where you can handle it and divide the mixture into 2 equal parts.
  • Make 2 rolls (2-inches in diameter each) by rolling each half on a flat surface with the centre of your palm.
  • Finish by rolling each log in the desiccated coconut.
  • Wrap them separately in foil and freeze for at least 5 hours.
  • Remove the logs from the freezer about 10 minutes before you want to serve them and cut into ¾-inch thick slices to serve. Enjoy with tea or coffee.

Notes

Note: These make an excellent host gift. And, in summer instead of forming logs, we make the mixture into Date Halva Energy Balls by scooping about 2 to 3 dozen balls of the mixture and then rolling them in the coconut.

 

Recipe by Karen Anderson and Noorbanu Nimji, from A Spicy Touch, copyright © 2020 by Karen Anderson and Noorbanu Nimji. Reprinted with permission of TouchWood Editions.  Photo credit Pauli-Ann Carriere.