Date-Nut Drama

If you're like me, every time Ramadan rolls around you spend a decent chunk of your paycheck on a treasure chest full of California-grown Medjool dates. If you're like me, you also barely make a dent in them by the time the month is done!

So what do you do with all those leftover dates? Well, you could just eat 'em like popcorn while watching The Office or 30 Rock (that's Glee and Gossip Girl for you ladies). Or, you could make this fairly simple dessert recipe to share with friends and family.

As desserts go, this one is fairly healthy: No added sugar, butter, Crisco, or anything of the sort. Just plain old dates to make it sweet, and some other stuff to add flavor!

Let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients	Quantity	Preparation
Medjool Dates	10 oz	Chopped
Pistachios	1 1/2 cups	Shelled
Graham Crackers	5 oz	Ground crumbs
Clementines	3 medium
Evaporated Milk	1 cup
Chocolate	1 tsp	Powdered
Cinnamon	1/4 tsp	Powdered
Nutmeg	1/4 tsp	Powdered

Method:

1. Peel the clementines, being careful to remove the peel in large quarters.
2. Use a butter knife to remove and discard as much of white pith from the inside of the peel as possible by scraping it.
3. Arrange the peels orange side up on a baking dish. Place the dish in a toaster oven set at 135F for a couple of hours until the Peel appears dry and slightly crispy
4. Meanwhile, remove the pits from the dates and chop into quarter inch peices. Transfer to a big mixing bowl.
5. Crush the graham crackers until finely ground. Should yield about 1 1/2 cups. Transfer to the mixing bowl with the dates.
6. Once the clementine peels have dried, chop them up into tiny peices. Transfer to the mixing bowl.
7. Arrange the shelled pistachios in a baking dish. Place in toaster oven at 400F for about 5 minutes or until the nuts are toasted.
8. Once done, roughly crush the nuts by pressing down on them with a hard object like the bottom of a glass bottle. Also transfer to the mixing bowl.
9. Add the evaporated milk to the mixing bowl.
10. Use your hands to mix all the ingredients together properly for 5 minutes.
11. Lay out the resulting mixture in a shallow dish. Spread it evenly and press down on it to compact. The mixture should form a layer about 3/4th inch (2 cm) thick.
12. Sprinkle on top with powdered chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg.
13. Refrigerate uncovered for 3-4 hours.
14. Before serving, cut and arrange in 1 inch squares on serving dish.

Makes 20-24 individual-sized servings.

Serving suggestion: None.

Variations:

1. If you can't find clementines, try other citrus fruit like tangerines, lemons, or even candied limes.
2. You can probably do these with any dates. Try Deglet Noors if Medjools aren't your thing.

Bon Ap, y'all!