Swaps and Substitutions

• Instead of filling the dates with goat cheese, fill them with feta cheese, blue cheese, or Boursin. You can add nuts to the cheese or use only nuts like pecan halves, pistachios, or walnuts. 
• Replace the plain goat cheese with honey goat cheese, lavender, spicy, or fig goat cheese or goat cheese with herby notes.  
• Replace the plain honey drizzle with Lavender Honey, Hot honey, or Coffee-Infused Maple Syrup

Tips and Techniques:

• Use pitted dates for this recipe that are plump, fat, and darker in color.
• The sweeter the dates, the less savory your finished recipe will be. 
• For people who need to watch their sugar intake, Iranian Piarom dates, which have less fructose are recommended. 
• When using store-bought, frozen puff pastry, first, thaw it in the fridge overnight. Then, allow it to warm up at room temperature (on the counter while still wrapped) for 15 minutes before rolling it.
• Work with one sheet of puff pastry at a time if you use the store-bought puff pastry. Keep the other piece of dough (the one you're not working with) covered with a clean towel or wrapped in its wrapper to keep the dough from drying out.
• If you want to add more goat cheese, go up to 2 teaspoons. They still need to bake in the allocated bake time, or you risk burning the pastry dough, so don't add more than this. 
• You can serve these dates by themselves as an appetizer or as a light lunch. 
• If you plan to serve these to strict Muslims, purchase and use goat cheese and puff pastry labeled "halal." If the ingredients label on the goat cheese says microbial rennet, it's probably halal.
  You can use my puff pastry recipe for a halal option as it contains no alcohol like some others might. Again, check the ingredients label for halal puff pastry. Shopping at a Middle Eastern store for halal products makes figuring these things out much easier.

Storage Instructions:

• Store the unbaked puff pastry-wrapped dates in the fridge overnight or up to 2 days. Separate the layers with parchment, so they don't stick together. Put them in an airtight container and store them for 1-2 days. 
• Store leftover baked date puff pastry bites in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can reheat them in a warm oven for 10-15 minutes or in an air fryer set at 350°F (180°C) for 3-4 minutes. 

Freezing Instructions

• Before baking: 
  1. Arrange the unbaked puff pastry-wrapped dates on a sheetpan lined with parchment paper and freeze them until solid.
  2. Transfer the bites to a freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to two months. 
  3. Bake on a silicone baking mat-lined sheetpan, adding an additional 5 minutes to the baking time if baking from frozen.
• After baking:
  1. Allow the dates to cool completely on the sheetpan.
  2. Once cool, freeze the pastries until solid (still on the sheetpan).
  3. Transfer the pastries to a freezer-safe storage bag once frozen. Freeze them for up to 6 months.