Recipe: $5.88 | Per Serving: $0.49 | Yield: 12 | Jump to Recipe
Guys, these date bites might be the best yet! Although they've got butter in the title, these babies are actually made with ghee! (Which I showed you guys how to make last week.) Adding ghee to date bites is an excellent, excellent idea.
I was looking for a little snack of sorts that I could add to my lunch box, but that was sort of rich and filling and sweet but not TOO sweet - pleased to report I nailed it! This combo of pecans and sea salt and ghee is an absolute winner.
As usual, I reduced the dates (from normal date bites) and added hemp seeds to boost the protein and reduce the sugar. Success.
I love butter and pecans together; it's a beautiful pairing. One of the reasons I like granola so much is the combination of nuts and butter (though coconut oil is good too), and pecans are my FAVE. So when my pecan snack bites needed a little oomph - the natural choice was ghee.
And once the ghee was added, why not go salt bae on it? Salted Butter Pecan Date Bites were born! Perfect little snack bites - they even pass for dessert!
Let's talk monies. I think 50 cents for a single date bite is definitely a little pricy, but I will say that's not what I personally paid. (The price here is based on the normal prices found at Trader Joe's and Safeway).
I usually buy deglet noor dates, which are cheaper than medjool, and I almost always snag them on sale for buy-one-get-one. This isn't reflected in the price because I can't expect you to always find these items on sale.
I buy walnuts in huge bags that significantly drop the price (or $5.99/lb in bulk at Safeway), but pecans are always a little bit expensive. ($3.99 for 8 oz at Trader Joe's.) Feel free to play around with different nuts and ratios to make this recipe work for your budget.
For experiment's sake, I did swap the ratios once and used 1 cup walnuts and ¾ cup pecans and that worked just as well! I think if you use pecans and swap out the walnuts for the nut of your choice, they will always taste great.
A note about ghee: ghee is made from butter, so it does contain trace amounts of casein and whey proteins, as well as trace amounts of lactose. If you are allergic (anaphylaxis) to casein or whey, I would not recommend trying ghee. If you are sensitive to dairy in general, you may be able to tolerate ghee - so give it a try.
And if you are lactose intolerant, you can probably handle ghee since the lactose levels are so low, but again you'll have to test it out. As always, consult with your functional nutritionist or medical practitioner before trying anything new if you have sensitivities, allergies, or complex conditions.
Paleo: As long as you're okay with ghee - yep!
Vegetarian: Yep!
Salted Butter-Pecan Date Bites (Paleo, Low Sugar!)
Ingredients
- 12-14 deglet noor or medjool dates about ¾ cup
- 1 cup pecan halves or pieces
- ¾ cup walnuts can sub almonds or other nut
- 3 Tablespoons hemp seeds
- 1 Tablespoon ghee
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Water as needed
- if desired coarse sea salt and more hemp seeds for topping
Instructions
- If dates are hard, place them in a glass bowl and cover them with very hot water. Soak for about 3-5 minutes to soften, then drain, reserving the water to use for blending just in case.
- Add pecans, dates, walnuts, hemp seeds, ghee, and salt to food processor and process until desired consistency is reached. You will likely have to scrape down the sides occasionally, and you might even need to add up to 1 Tablespoon of water (from the soaking water) to help things along. Feel free to add a pinch more salt if needed.
- Roll into 12-15 balls, approximately 1-Tablespoon each. Dip or roll each in hemp seeds and coarse sea salt if desired.
- Store in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Label is for 12 Date Bites
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