“The most sumptuous cookbook I’ve ever encountered…. Savor this book with your sweetheart, take yourself out on your own date: Hot Date! is a joy.”—The Paris Review

The first comprehensive cookbook on an ancient superfood and the cultures that revere it. Mesmerising and art-packed, Hot Date! features 99 mouthwatering, date-centered recipes that are the perfect mix of traditional favourites and inspired new creations.

This is not simply a cookbook about dates. It is a love song, a celebration of food and culture from a global perspective. Every page is a surprise in this highly colourful volume, with recipes ranging from Brooklyn to Babylon.

Author Rawaan Alkhatib draws inspiration from her Middle Eastern and Indian cooking background to bring a unique perspective to her topic. As a global citizen who has lived and travelled throughout the world, she explores both the significance of the fruit and its chameleon-like characteristics in cooking.

Divided into six chapters, Hot Date! features recipes that are big on flavour and low on fuss, ranging from Party Food (stuffed dates of all kinds!) to Breakfast; Mains; Soups, Salads & Sides; Sweets; and Drinks & Condiments (the Date Chili Crisp is a life changer). Informative sidebars that read like a scrapbook, how-to content, timelines, and historical snippets feature Rawaan’s watercolour illustrations, patterns, and elegant hand-lettering, exploring such topics as:

• Date-growing cultures, history, and visits to date farms in Palm Springs, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt
• The evolution of the classic Palm Springs date shake
• How date palms are pollinated (entirely by hand, to this day—millions of them!)
• How to stuff dates
• Dates at different stages of ripeness
• Shopping and sourcing suggestions
• Extensive suggestions for more reading to enter the world of the date

Hot Date! is doing away with the Western practice of viewing dates as a sugar-free substitute and instead gives the fruit the platform and profile it deserves: an entire book filled to the brim with praise, knowledge, and delicious recipes for date novices and connoisseurs alike.

UNIQUE COOKBOOK: The first of its kind published in the United States, this beautiful book centres a global food known for its versatility, flavour, and nutritional heft. There are no other definitive cookbooks or guides to dates published in English that share recipes, explore the fruit’s history, and feature 3,000 (and counting) varieties of dates.

INTERWOVEN STORYTELLING: Hot Date! is rich with stories, poems, and imagery from the Arab world, including visits to date-rich oases throughout the Middle East and Africa, as well as Palm Springs, California.

BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED GIFT BOOK: Much more than a typical recipe book, this volume brims with photos, illustrations, and irresistible details like its fuchsia-dyed page edges, which make you feel like you’re entering a fantasy world. It is as much a cookbook as an artistic object and makes a perfect gift for home cooks, readers interested in the fruit, anyone with an interest in or ties to the Middle East, and those drawn to the colourful art.

CANDY BAR DATES & SO MUCH MORE: Dates date back 7,000 years and are at the core of many cultures’ cuisines. This fruit has spanned generations, from the centuries-old love of their nutritional superpowers to the viral sensation of Date “Snickers” bars with over 1.3 billion views on TikTok. Hot Date! is for everyone from established date lovers to those looking to experiment with big flavours and textures, and anyone who savours stunning coffee table books featuring rich art and vivid details.

Perfect for:

• Date lovers 
• Home cooks of all ages 
• Anyone interested in Middle Eastern-inspired cooking 
• Whole food-oriented cooks seeking flavour-rich recipes 
• Anyone looking to switch up the menu for an Iftar gathering
• Gift-giving to food lovers, cookbook enthusiasts, and art book collectors

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Chocolate Sorbet with Warm Salted Dates

ABOUT 2 PT [940 G]

A very rich, very intense delivery mechanism for dark chocolate, this sorbet cuts out anything that might distract from the chocolate itself, omitting the muffling effect of eggs and cream and keeping the focus squarely on the cacao. Use the best cocoa powder and chocolate you can get your hands on, as there isn’t anything for the chocolate to hide behind. I love to serve little scoops of this at the end of a rich meal, along with a similarly sized cup of espresso or Turkish coffee for each guest.

As with the other very chocolate-forward recipes in this chapter, dates are the backup dancers to chocolate’s Beyoncé: Think of the date molasses as a flavor enhancer, not the star of the show. That said, if you are making this in early autumn, when rutab dates are in season, try folding them directly into the just-churned ice cream for a luscious ready-to-go date ripple. I also highly recommend serving this with the optional Warm Salted Dates (recipe follows), which act like a sort of super-charged hot fudge—try tumbling a few chewy dates in their oil over a scoop of sorbet and thank me later.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker (or, uh, forgot to freeze the cylinder in time), don’t worry: This also makes a luscious chocolate pudding. Pour it into little cups, like shot glasses or tea cups, and let set overnight in the refrigerator. Top with crème fraîche and a little cracked cardamom, and serve with your tiniest spoons.

Last, but not least, this sorbet is also mind-blowing as part of an ice cream sundae: Top with warmed dates, slightly overwhipped cream, salted and deeply toasted chopped almonds, and, of course, a cherry on top.

¾ cup [60 g] unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup [100 g] sugar

½ cup [120 ml] date molasses

¼ tsp salt

8 oz [225 g] bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

½ tsp instant coffee powder (optional)

½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Big pinch of flaky salt

In a large pot set over medium-high heat, whisk 1½ cups [360 ml] of water with the cocoa powder, sugar, date molasses, and salt. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently, then continue whisking for 1 minute more. Remove from the heat, and stir in the chopped chocolate. Let stand, undisturbed, for a full minute, then stir in the instant coffee powder (if using), vanilla (if using), and 1 cup [240 ml] of water. Use an immersion blender to blend the mixture in the pot until silky smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender or a hand whisk. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until it is completely cold, at least 3 hours and preferably overnight.

Just before you churn the ice cream, give it another good whisk to get it aerated and fluid again—I like to use an immersion blender at this point to ensure the smoothest texture, but it isn’t a necessary step. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the machine’s instructions. Serve plain, with a spoonful of whipped cream or crème fraîche, or with the warm salted dates that follow. Either way, do not skimp on the flaky salt as a final finish.

Warm Salted Dates

DATES FOR 1, MULTIPLIES EASILY

Use soft and yielding dates: juicy Medjools, not hard Sukkaris or Deglet Nours.

2 dates per serving

½ Tbsp per serving good olive, pumpkin seed, pecan, or walnut oil

Flaky salt

Halve and pit each date, then heat up a skillet and drizzle in half a tablespoon of oil per serving. When the oil is just warm, place the dates, cut-side down, in the skillet and gently heat them just enough to warm the dates and coax out the flavour of the oil, not kill it. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with a delicate large-flake salt, such as Maldon. Top each serving of ice cream with the still-warm dates and then drizzle over the flavoured oil, adding more salt if needed.

Recipe published with permission from Chronicle Books.