Lisa’s Chocolate, Walnut and Date Energy Bites Recipe

Lisa Hecht’s Chocolate, Walnut and Date Energy Bites blend Persian and Indian flavors, to make a sticky and warmly spiced all natural sweet treat. This recipe would be perfect for the Jewish holiday of Purim. With nothing artificial added, these energy bites would be equally good served alongside hot black coffee, or included in a child’s lunch box!

If you are not sure when Purim is this year, check on the Annual Jewish Calendar right here.

Community Recipes is a recurring feature where we share your recipes on the Jewish Food Hero blog. If you want to share a recipe in this series, pitch us your idea here. This series is all about sharing Kosher recipes. We are creating a positive community around food and sharing.

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Tell us about yourself, Lisa Hecht!

I’m originally from Montreal but currently live in Philadelphia. My ancestry is a mix of Eastern European, Indian and Iraqi Jews. Growing up, the food we ate at home was a broad representation of my cultural heritage, ranging from popular foods like bagels, lox & cream cheese and matzoh ball soup, to more spicy dishes like curry and samosas.

Lisa's Chocolate, Walnut, and Date Energy Bites Recipe

Your Instagram feed is so beautiful. Do you have an artistic background?

In college I studied Fine Arts and worked as a practicing artist and university instructor for over ten years. When I moved to Philadelphia with my husband nine years ago, my career opportunities changed. Eventually I decided to go back to school and get a degree in Culinary Arts. I’m now working on building up my portfolio as a food photographer and food stylist. I love the expression “we eat with our eyes first”. Of course food should taste good, but I also think it should look beautiful too.

Join me over at @lisa_mozelle

Recommend us your top 3 cookbooks

This is the collaboration between Yotam Ottolenghi, who grew up in the Jewish west of Jerusalem, and Tamimi, from the Arab east side. Exploring incredible cross-cultural recipes, this book is always a favorite on Jewish Food Hero.

This book honors our traditional recipes, but brings them into the present day by updating them to suit our conventional ideas and methods. Leah Koenig is a huge player in Jewish food, and with this book she brings us do-able recipes with worldwide and long lasting roots.

Here, Meera Sodha shares the everyday food she grew up eating. Surprisingly quick, but seriously flavorful. Expect mango, lime, passionfruit jello, pomegranate raita, and cinnamon lamb curry.

What’s the story behind your Chocolate, Walnut, and Date Energy Bites Recipe?

I’ve come across recipes for date & nut balls in several Iraqi and Persian cookbooks that I own. I wanted to create a recipe that used some of my favorite spices that I typically cook with in Indian cuisine. This included cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. Adding cocoa powder to the recipe just added a layer of richness that turned this into a more decadent treat.

My husband and I love to have them for dessert or with a Turkish coffee in the middle of the afternoon.