Hello everyone!

In these unusual times when more people are working from home, we need to get creative about what we eat based on the resources we have. I made a habit of hoarding nut/seed butters, dried fruit, nuts and different kinds of dark chocolate. This might be the easiest afternoon snack I ever made (well, next to almond butter dipped apple slices!). It’s great as a before-workout snack as it has all the nutrients you need and it’s so rich in fibre:

• protein & fat - hello, sunflower seed butter and crushed walnuts!

• carbs - delicious Medjool dates and dark chocolate;

• vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, copper - sunflowers seeds;

• fibre - literally every ingredient in this recipe;

One of my issues with snack ideas containing dates that you find in shops is that they are too sweet, not too filling and too date-y , if it makes sense haha. My recipe is filling and just sweet enough, but if you are someone with a bigger sweet tooth, you can add less sunflower seed butter or a sweeter chocolate drizzle. The beauty of this recipe is that you can adapt it to fit your taste.

Get in touch with me if you want more afternoon snack ideas while you’re working from home!

Chocolate Stuffed Dates

Ingredients:

• 12 Medjool dates

• 1/2 cup seed/nut butter (I used sunflower seed butter as I wanted a vitamin E boost, but feel free to use any plant butter you have at home)

• 1/3 melted dark chocolate (I used a 85% one, but you can adapt it to your taste)

• 2 Tbs crushed walnuts (optional; it gives a nice crunchy taste to the date and I feel it brings everything together nicely).

Method:

• Melt the chocolate in a microwave or by using bain-marie*

• De-seed the dates with a knife by making a lenghtwise slice. You should hit the pit, open the date and take the pit out.

• Add about 1/2 tsp of plant butter into every date.

• Drizzle the melted chocolate on top of the dates**

• Top the dates off with crushed nuts.

• Pop them in the fridge for 10min until the chocolate is hard.

Notes:

*Easy Bain Marie explanation: put a pot with water on a stove and place an empty bowl on top; make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water; bring the water to boil and reduce heat; add the chocolate in the bowl and mix it every now and then until it melts.

**If you fancy, you can dip the dates in chocolate.