[Sca-cooks] Halwa bi-Tamar - Date-Nut "Fudge"

[Lilinah]

I was inspired by a 13th C. anonymous Andalusian recipe.

However i confess i did alter it.

Original Recipe
A Sweet of Dates and Honey

Take Shaddakh dates. Clean them of their pits and pound a ratl of 
them in a mortar. Then dilute with water in a tinjir on a gentle 
fire. Add the same amount of skimmed honey. Stir it until it binds 
together and throw in a good amount of peeled almonds and walnuts. 
Put in some oil so it doesn't burn and to bind firmly. Pour it over a 
greased salaya (stone work surface). With it you make qursas (round 
cakes). Cut it with a knife in big or little pieces.

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First, I have no idea what Shaddakh dates are.

Next, note that the recipe calls for 1 lb dates and 1 lb honey. Ouch! 
That just makes my teeth hurt!
Plus the Medjool dates were so soft and creamy. So i used much less 
honey, no water, and didn't cook it. Obviously not an exact 
reproduction, but, sheesh, there was already so much sugar in all the 
recipes!

1. I chopped a handful or so of blanched almonds and an equal amount 
of walnuts.

2. I pitted the pound of Medjool dates and removed any calyxes. I 
kneaded them by hand, in a glazed ceramic bowl, until they were a 
soft even amalgam.

3. I added a small amount of honey - i didn't use a measuring cup - 
but i figure it was maybe 1/4 cup. Again i kneaded the dates to 
distribute the honey evenly.

4. I dumped in the chopped nuts and kneaded again to evenly distribute.

5. I rolled it all into a ball.

6. I flattened the date paste ball on a sheet of baking parchment 
paper on a baking sheet with low sides, working lumpy spots to make 
sure it was spread out evenly. I patted it out to less than 1/4" 
thick and to about the size/shape of the serving dish.

7. To serve, i cut away the paper that extended beyond the edges of 
the date paste, leaving the rest of the paper under the paste, and 
put it all on a serving dish. I scored the paste with a knife all the 
way through to the paper (i didn't cut the paper) - first in a series 
of parallel lines, then in a series of parallel lines at about a 45 
degree angle from the first set. This makes nice neat "diamonds". I 
left the knife with the paste to that people could cut away and 
extract the pieces.
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

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