Tortoises

I’m skipping this weeks hardcore hobbit to dedicate this week to tasty treat updates. Today is my attempt at faking turtles.These tasty chocolates were all the rage this yule. In fact my husband claimed he liked the dates much more than the caramel because it gave the treat more of a full flavour rather than just a hurray for sugar flavour. Not that there is anything wrong with a little hurray for sugar…you just can’t eat as much of it is all. These were tasty I think I’m going to make another round of them for new year’s eve too. I have found that coating things in chocolate is much easier than I thought. Hurray for chocolate! I couldn’t help myself…I took a bite.

• 12 dates
• 12 pecan halves (or any other nut you prefer)
• 1/4 cup melting chocolate (I used dark chocolate)

1. Remove the pit from each date, insert the pecan half into each date. If your dates are pre-pitted and you can’t find the hole just cut a slit into the date and slip it in that way. You should end up with something that looks like this:
2. Fill a pot halfway with water and place a glass heat resistant bowl on top. Bring the water to a simmer over medium. Pour the chocolate into the glass bowl and stir while it begins to melt. Your setup should look something like this:
3. Cover a plate or tray with plastic wrap and set aside. This is your landing pad for yummyness.
4. Coat each date separately using a couple of forks to gently push the date around and move it to your tray to cool.
5. Allow to cool completely before placing in a container to store. Can be kept at room temperature or in the fridge. Keeping them in the fridge though makes them a bit more challenging to eat.

Makes 12 nummy chocolates. Each chocolate is 51 calories, 2 grams of fat, and 1 gram of fibre. A tasty treat for any hobbit on holiday.