Orange and Nut Date Cups

The moment I was introduced to Persian food was the moment the world of natural and wholesome cooking opened up for me. These orange and nut date cups were inspired by the persian cooking and food that surrounds me. A lot of the times, dessert at my in-laws consists of dates and fresh fruit with tea. They are the healthiest people I know, and after being around them for long enough, it starts to rub off on you. I am now constantly looking for new ways to make healthy and natural meals.

I was craving something sweet yesterday, so I threw some of my favourite nuts along with some dates into a food processor, and created a great dessert out of it. I added some orange zest to make it more refreshing, and also threw in some rose water because I find it tastes great in desserts.

This recipe makes approximately 16 mini date cups.

Orange and Nut Date Cups
- 350g dates
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped and crushed
- 1/4 cup toasted almonds, ground
- 1/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped and crushed
- 1/4 cup toasted macadamia nuts, chopped and crushed
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp freshly squeeezed orange juice
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 2 tsp rose water
- 1 tsp ground flax seed

Instructions
1. Chop up and crush the dates and nuts into small pieces

2. Place all of the ingredients into a food processor and chop until it becomes a pasty date mixture

3. Place the date mixture into a mixing bowl, and continue to mix with a fork for a few minutes to ensure you mash up all of the date chunks

4. Line a mini muffin tin with wax paper. My muffin tins 2 inches in diameter, and 1 1/4 inches deep

5. Drop the date mixture into each muffin tin cup and fill it to the top

6. Press the date mixture tightly into the muffin tin cup with a small spoon

7. Cover each muffin tin cup filled with date mixture with wax paper

8. Refigerate for 2 hours and serve.

Keep the date cups in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. When the mixture is left at room temperature for too long, it gets very soft. Right before serving, I dusted the date cups lightly with icing sugar, and garnished with grated orange peel.