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These Mascarpone Stuffed Dates are the perfect little two-bite appetizer. They are great to pop onto cheese boards, and even better as passed hors d’oeuvre for holiday parties!
Mascarpone Stuffed Dates are soon to become your new favorite appetizer.
Honestly, it’s an app, a dessert, and a little sweet treat when you need something in the middle of the work day.
We, as in the two adults that live in my household, have unanimously agreed that we want these stuffed dates around in the fridge often.
And why wouldn’t they be a hit with your bunch too?
We’re grabbing sweet medjool dates and piping lemon mascarpone into the center as a stuffing. Then topping it with mixture of chopped walnuts and pistachios and a hint of honey. It’s kinda like filo-less baklava stuff dates, and I’m all here for it!
We’ve all had the typical passed appetizers at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so why not try something a little out of the box.
And heck, if you think you can’t get behind this as an appetizer – I trust that you can because the whipped mascarpone kinda makes it a hint more savory. It also curbs the sweetness of the date. And, the drizzle of honey is just enough to bind the nuts without really adding much sweetness.
But I digress, even if you can’t look at this as an app, I trust that this would undoubtedly be a delicious, naturally gluten-free dessert you can make – without having to turn on the oven or the stove.
Ingredients for Baklava Stuffed Dates
- Medjool Dates: I like to use juicy, plump medjool dates for this recipe as the texture is gooey and ideal for stuffing. If you have another variety that you prefer, it would work here as well. Make sure to buy dates that are pitted, or you can pit them yourself with a paring knife.
- Mascarpone Cheese: I went back and forth a lot on what would be the perfect cheese to use, and though goat cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta, were all strong contenders, I personally feel like mascarpone is the sweet cheese that works best for this dish.
- Fresh lemons: the fresh lemons are used for both their zest and the juice. We’ll hit the mascarpone with both and pipe it into the center of the dates.
- Olive Oil: A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil is perfect to give the dates a bit of earthiness. It also works beautifully with the other ingredients.
- Walnuts: add plenty of crunch to the garnish.
- Shelled Pistachios: the pistachios and walnuts are typically in most baklava recipes. I like to use salty pistachios so help curb some more of the sweetness. You can replace this with chopped roasted and lightly salted whole almonds or pecans if you prefer.
- Ground Cinnamon: adds to the natural nutty flavor. It’s a classic baklava ingredient and we couldn’t do without it here.
- Cardamom: is optional. We use just a pinch of ground cardamom because it’s used in most middle eastern baklava recipes.
- Orange Blossom Water: adds a nice fragrance to the dish. Orange blossom water is another classic middle eastern ingredient. Feel free to omit this if you’d like, but for me, I couldn’t make this recipe without it.
- Honey: Drizzle over the nuts to help them cling to each other for the topping or garnish for this recipe.
Making Stuffed Dates:
- Prep the dates. It’s easier if you buy pitted medjool dates as it significantly cuts down on the prepwork for this recipe. If you happen to have dates with the pit still intact, just use a paring knife to make a long slit down the center of each date and remove the pit. Pitted dates do hold their shape a bit better as they dry out a little, however, either will work for this recipe.
- Whip it good. In a bowl, whip the mascarpone with the zest of the lemon and the lemon juice.
- Fill the dates. Using a piping bag, fill the mascarpone mixture into the cavity of the dates. You can also do this with a spoon if you’d like.
- Mix it all together. In a bowl, combine the chopped walnuts, pistachios, cinnamon, orange blossom, and 2-3 teaspoons of honey. This is just enough to help he ingredients come together without adding much sweetness. Using hot honey is a great way to reduce the sweetness and add a little kick to it as well.
- Top and serve. Top the piped dates with the chopped nut mixture. Then drizzle with more honey or a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. I typically just use salt and skip the extra honey all together. Serve at room temperature or, my personal preference is cold from the fridge.
FAQs about this recipe
I like them served cold because the mascarpone starts to soften too much otherwise. This also makes it ideal to make ahead!
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 1 week. Just enough time to polish these off and make another batch!
Other no bake easy appetizers:
- Pepper Jelly Cheese Dip
- Southern Deviled Eggs
- Hot Honey Cranberry Goat Cheese Balls
- Salted Caramel Apple Dip
- Healthy Texas Cowboy Caviar
Mascarpone Stuffed Dates
Ingredients
- 25-30 Medjool dates pitted
- 4 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
- EV olive oil as needed
- ¼ cup walnuts finely chopped
- ¼ cup shelled pistachios lightly salted
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon cardamom optional
- ½ teaspoon orange blossom water optional
- Honey or hot honey
- maldon salt for finishing
Instructions
- PREP: Slice the medjool dates to create a slit if yours doesn’t have one.
- WHIP: In a bowl, whisk together the mascarpone with the zest of a lemon and the lemon juice until combined.
- FILL: Drizzle a little olive oil over the dates. Using a piping bag, pipe the mixture into the cavity of the dates. You can also use a small spoon, but the piping bag does make it a bit neater.
- MIX: In a bowl, toss the chopped walnuts, pistachios, ground cinnamon, orange blossom and 2-3 teaspoons of honey to help the ingredients come together.
- TOP: sprinkle the dates with the chopped nut mixture. Drizzle additional honey if desired (I typically dont) on top with a sprinkle of maldon salt. Serve them at room temperature or cold.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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