Easy Chocolate Pistachio Date Caramels. Just 3 ingredients!

Recently, my middle schooler approached the last lesson in his World History class unit on Islamic culture: making a Middle Eastern dish or treat. He was enthusiastic; he enjoys learning about different parts of the world, the variety of ways people live - rituals, celebrations, values, food. He's liked this unit and likes to cook. At first, baklava was chosen (ok, with some encouragement from me - I love baklava!), but thawing the phyllo dough properly was a missed step (24 hours!), and now the project was due the next day. Agreeing to make baklava another time soon together, we began checking the pantry to see what I had on-hand for his project.

Since pistachios and dates were readily available in my pantry and are from the Middle East and both staples there, they became the key ingredients he wanted to use. He appreciated that we were using dates, since they are the food Muhammed ate when he broke his fast. Dates are a source of fiber, magnesium and potassium, a great food boost after fasting for Ramadan.

A web search led to a variety of chocolate covered date recipes, including one by Saad Fayed. Mr. Fayed knows his Middle Eastern food, having grown up helping his grandmother prepare it and working at his father's restaurant. He's lived in Egypt and Iraq and traveled all around the Middle East. You can find his recipe here. It's wonderful, with nut options and coconut flakes sprinkled on top.

My son was inspired by Saad Fayed's recipe to develop his own from there, focussing on specifics like medjool dates and salted pistachios, changing certain aspects (no coconut, he doesn't like it - I don't get it; I'm calling it a phase, we'll see...), altering methods (double-boiler method I often use instead of a microwave), etc. Below is his version using just three ingredients. They are so delicious; I love that he has something to make for the family that we all devour enthusiastically. I think he does, too. After first trying them, I noted that the dates make these chocolate candies seem like caramels; hence, the name: