Six ingredients and twenty-five minutes for eighteen dates.
This recipe contains walnuts — one half on each date, and the title names them nowhere.
Why This Recipe Works
- Splitting without cutting through keeps the date as a boat for the cheese.
- Soft goat cheese needs no beating to become stuffable.
- Eight to ten minutes warms the cheese without letting it run out.
- A light oiling is what makes the dates glossy rather than dry.
- Balsamic glaze added after roasting stays dark and syrupy.
Ingredient Notes
- Walnut halves
- Eighteen, one per date. A major component and a declarable tree-nut allergen — this recipe contains walnuts.
- Medjool dates
- Eighteen, pitted. Large and soft enough to split into a boat that holds the cheese.
- Balsamic glaze
- Two tablespoons, drizzled after roasting. It is the dark syrup pooling in the dish, not honey.
- Fresh rosemary
- A teaspoon, chopped, at the end. A visible component the title never names.
How to Make It
Oven to 375°F
Heat oven to 375°F.
Split without cutting through, and stuffed
Split each date without cutting through and stuff with goat cheese.
A walnut half on each
Top each with a walnut half and arrange in a baking dish.
Lightly oiled, roasted eight to ten minutes
Drizzle lightly with olive oil and roast 8 to 10 minutes until the dates are glossy and the cheese is warm.
Balsamic glaze and rosemary
Drizzle with dark balsamic glaze and finish with rosemary.
Served warm
Serve warm.
Six Ingredients, and Two the Title Never Mentions
These are roasted stuffed dates with goat cheese. Two of the six things in the dish are not in that name - one of them is a declarable allergen, and one of them is hard to identify from the photograph. Here is a single date, built.
A Medjool date, SPLIT WITHOUT CUTTING THROUGH
One of 18, pitted. The instruction is precise for a reason: split part-way and the date is a boat that holds cheese; cut through and it is two halves with nothing to contain anything. Medjool specifically because they are large and soft enough to open without tearing.
Soft goat cheese, stuffed in
5 oz across the eighteen. Soft goat cheese needs no beating or softening - it is stuffable straight from the packet, which is most of why this recipe takes twenty-five minutes rather than an hour.
A WALNUT half - and this is an allergen
One per date, 18 in total. Walnuts are a MAJOR VISIBLE COMPONENT that the title names nowhere, and they are a tree-nut allergen. THIS RECIPE CONTAINS WALNUTS. It also does a textural job: everything else here is soft, and the walnut is the only crunch.
A light oiling, then 8 to 10 minutes at 375F
1 tsp of olive oil across the dish, and a short roast UNTIL THE DATES ARE GLOSSY AND THE CHEESE IS WARM. The oil is what produces the GLOSSY surface in the photograph. The window is short and worth watching: goat cheese warms quickly and then starts to run out of the split, taking the filling with it.
Balsamic glaze - AFTER the oven, not before
2 tbsp drizzled once they are out. This is the dark pooled syrup - not honey. After rather than before matters: a glaze roasted at 375F reduces further and turns tacky, where one added at the end stays syrupy and POOLS IN THE DISH.
1 tsp of chopped fresh ROSEMARY over the top - the second component the title never names - and SERVED WARM. What is absent matters too: NO BACON WRAP, which this appetizer very often carries and this version deliberately does not.
Success Tips
- Split the dates part-way only — cut through and the cheese has nothing to sit in.
- Watch them at eight minutes; goat cheese runs once it gets too warm.
- Add the glaze after the oven so it stays syrupy rather than baking on.
Serving Ideas
Eighteen warm dates in a white dish, dark and glossy, each stuffed with goat cheese under a walnut half, with balsamic glaze pooling around them and chopped rosemary over the top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this contain nuts?
Yes. Each date carries a walnut half — eighteen in total. Walnut is a declarable tree-nut allergen.
Is the dark syrup honey?
Balsamic glaze. Two tablespoons, drizzled over after the dates come out of the oven.
Should these be wrapped in bacon?
Not in this one. Stuffed dates often are, and this recipe deliberately is not.
