Chocolate and Date Lollipops

Some goodies take you right back to your childhood. When I was planning for a picnic party, I knew that I wanted to have lollipops in the dessert course. The very idea of eagerly opening the lollipop wrapper and tasting it thrilled me. I also happened to have a nice box of dates lying around and I decided to use it as as the base. I added chocolate and walnuts for taste and texture. The lollipops turned out to be delicious with none of the main ingredients overpowering each other. This is bound to be a hit with both adults and kids.

Recipe Details :
Makes: 8 lollipops
Time: 30 mins
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 6 seedless dates
• 8 whole walnuts
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp hazelnuts crushed (optional)

• In a mixer, pulse the dates, walnuts and vanilla extract to form a soft dough. Do not add any other liquid to this mixture.
• Take some of this mixture in your hands and gently roll into a ball.
• Once you are done rolling the entire mixture, place the lollipops in the fridge for some time to firm up.
• In the meantime, take the chocolate chips in a bowl and heat them in the microwave for 75 secs. These 75 secs should be in steps of 30 secs, 30 secs and 15 secs. Stir the mixture using a small spoon in every step and ensure that the chocolate has completely melted. There should not be any chunks. Let it rest for 5 mins.
• Roll the lollipops in the melted chocolate. If you find this hard to do, you can use a basting brush instead. For this, dip the brush in the melted chocolate and coat the lollipops evenly. This gives an even finish and does not smudge the chocolate.
• When the chocolate coating is still wet, gently sprinkle or roll the lollipop to the finely crushed hazelnut.
• Keep the newly coated lollipops on absorbing paper and solidify in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
• To serve, remove from the fridge and skewer them. I wrapped them using cling wrap and tied them with an attractive coloured ribbon. If refrigerated, they can be stored for 4-5 days.

Tips :

• While making the date-walnut dough, use the pulse setting.
• Between pulses, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• If you find the mixture is too sticky to work with, add more walnuts and process or store in the fridge for a few minutes before rolling.
• Be careful while melting the chocolate. Mixing the chocolate between the heating phases helps to create a smoothly melting chocolate.