My candied dates are so much better than your stinking excuse for a candied date, it's not even funny.
For the true candied date aficionado, you must make your own...and nothing else will do for mouth-watering dishes such as
Snakehead Mullet and Vegetable Soup -
follow me, if you dare, for the sweet, sticky lowdown...
To begin, we must, of course, travel to the East for the freshest, most succulent dates, purchased individually from kind, patient vendors at open-air stalls
Then. and only then - the true magic begins...!
Now, some people might do something like this, and call the result a "candied date," but I think not - that'd just be a candied date which sucked, as does, in all probability, yours.
No, our home-candyin', traditional methods are quite a bit different - and, of course, are secret...
But with teh google, of course, we may find signposts, as it were, pointing the way to the deeper meaning of candy dates that rock:
Candied Dates
(from Mary Sia's Chinese Cookibook)
1/2 pound dates
1 cup sugar
3/4 cups water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tarter
Put each date on the end of an orange stick.
Mix sugar and cream of tarter, add water, and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook until syrup threads when dropped from tip of spoon. Remove from heat.
Dip each date in the syrup to cover, then place on an oiled plate to cool.
It also says you can do this with 1/2 pound of shelled walnut.
One of our favorite recipes for candied dates with deep spiritual resonance such as these is Snakehead Mullet and Vegetable Soup:
Ingredients
snakehead mullet 1 pc
lean pork 10 oz
Rorippa montana (Tong Kot) 1 pacl
candied dates 5 pcs
beancurd 1 pc
dried tangerine peel 1/4 pcs
Method
1. Cut open fish. Scale and gut. Wash and wipe dry. Fry in wok for a while. Dish up.
2. Rinse vegetable. Wash lean pork.
3. Soak dried tangerine peel until soft, scrape pith away and wash it clean.
4. Bring 12 cups of water to the boil. Put in dried tangerine peel, fish, lean pork, vegetable, beancurd and sweetened dates. Parboil over high heat. Bring to the boil. Turn to low heat. Continue to parboil for 3 hours. Season with salt. Serve.
If you won't seek the true candied date, you may purchase them, either as
or [ shudder! ] as these
and then...?
go freakin' wild!!!
But - enough about candied dates, for a moment, yours or mine. This is about how we treat ourselves, internally, on many deep levels, so I'd like to share a fabulous and easy dessert recipe with you, and invite you to share yours, below, in the comments, if you like.
Butter Pecan Turtle Bars
crust:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. firmly-packed brown sugar
1/2 c. Butter, softened
1 c. whole pecan pieces
caramel layer:
2/3 c. Butter
1/2 c. firmly-packed brown sugar
1 c. milk chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350. In large mixer bowl, combine all
crust ingredients EXCEPT pecans. Beat at medium speed,
scraping bowl often, until well-mixed and particles
are fine (2-3 minutes.) Press on bottom of a
13x9-inch baking pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over
unbaked crust. In a 1-quart saucepan, combine butter
and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring
constantly, until entire surface of mixture begins to
boil. Boil one minute, stirring constantly. Pour
evenly over pecans and crust. Bake 18-22 minutes, or
until entire caramel layer is bubbly. Remove from
oven. Immediately sprinkle with chips, and allow them
to melt slightly (2-3 min.) Swirl fork through chips,
leaving some whole, for a marbled effect. Cool
completely in pan, then cut into about three dozen
bars.