Date Truffles (Madgooga)

This recipe is easy to make and popular in Iraq since one of the things that Iraq is famous for is dates. We have lots of varieties and kinds of dates from chewy to very hard. It is better to use this recipe with hard type of dates (called kasab) not soft, but you could use soft dates if you didn't find hard dates. Sometimes Ii use already-crushed dates from the market and it goes well too. There are lots of varieties for the coating of the truffles, use as many coatings as you like according to your personal taste.

• Ready In: 15 mins
• Yields: 36 balls

Ingredients

• 2  cups pitted dates, hard type
• 1⁄2 cup  sesame paste
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cardamom

• coating

•  plain cocoa powder
•  icing sugar
•  ground coffee, not espresso
•  sesame seeds
•  shredded coconut
•  ground nuts (pistachio, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashew nut, peanuts and almonds)
•  whole anise seed
•  ground cinnamon
•  sugar  candy sprinkles
•  chopped  Oreo cookies

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a bowl.
2. Grind the mixture with meat grinder finely.
3. Shape the dates into small balls 2 cm in diameter with slightly oiled hand with vegetable oil (I like to shape them roughly so they are not so perfect balls).
4. Roll the truffles in your selected coating and place on parchment paper or tray.
5. Put the truffles in small decorative paper cups and arrange them in the serving plate.
6. If you bought dates that are already ground and pitted, you don't need to grind them in the meat grinder, simply knead ingredients together by hand or you can grind it again by the meat grinder.