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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
7 min
26/11/2025
The health-obsessed community has been remixing chocolate, cottage cheese and more into desserts for a while now. The latest obsession is the ‘date bark’ made with peanut butter, dark chocolate and dates. What started abroad soon trickled down to the Indian community through local influencers who brought the trend home on Instagram.
Date bark is a dessert recipe that has gone viral on social media platforms, especially TikTok. The original creator, Lina from That Health Junkie, first made a video of this sweet treat. From there, hundreds of creators followed suit. This rich and decadent date bark is made with four whole food ingredients – dates, almonds, chocolate, and sea salt flakes. The recipe is a simpler version of another trend called date snickers, which involves stuffing individual dates with peanut butter and coating them in chocolate. If you’re looking to recreate the recipe at home or wondering about its health benefits, dig in.
The process is simple. Place the medjool dates open side up on a parchment paper-lined sheet and use your hands or a cup to press them down onto the baking sheet as close together as possible. Then add a layer of peanut butter or other nut butter, sprinkle nuts on top, and drizzle melted chocolate over everything.
Instead of painstakingly filling and coating each date, here you just sort of layer everything in a messy pile. Drizzle with peanut butter and sprinkle almonds on top, then follow with a drizzle of melted chocolate on top and use a spatula to spread it out evenly. Sprinkle with salt and freeze for 30 minutes. Once the chocolate sets, you break or cut it into pieces.
This TikTok-famous date bark succeeds where other healthy treats fall short because it uses naturally sweet dates as the foundation instead of processed sugars or artificial sweeteners. Many people compare it to eating a peanut butter and chocolate bar.
It is a chewy, crunchy, and creamy treat that is supposed to mimic that mix of textures and tastes that you typically get in a candy bar. The dates provide a caramel-like flavour, while the peanut butter, nuts, and chocolate add familiar candy bar elements.
One serving of dates contains many of the minerals and vitamins your body needs in high amounts – 23% of your recommended daily value of potassium, for example, whereas store-bought chocolate bars, like the Snickers bars, only have 4% of the recommendation per serving.
Dates also have a high fibre content, which means good things for your gut health, and are filled with antioxidants that studies show fight free radicals that can cause chronic illnesses. Dark chocolate also provides antioxidants when consumed in moderation.
Medjool dates are from Morocco and come from the date palm tree. They are sold dried in most grocery stores and are soft and sticky in texture. This variety of dates is larger, darker, and sweeter in taste than most other varieties of the fruit.
The basic recipe is easy to customise. You can substitute almond butter for any nut-based butter you want. I've seen a lot of recipes calling for peanut butter, which would be delicious and more like a candy bar. If you're not a fan of almonds or simply want to mix things up, you can easily substitute them with walnuts or pecans.
While dark chocolate provides a rich taste, feel free to swap it out for white or milk chocolate based on your preference. Some creators have made versions with tahini, pistachio butter, coconut flakes, and dried fruit. The Dubai chocolate version with pistachio cream has also become popular.
The best way to store this recipe is in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 1-2 weeks. When stored in an airtight container or freezer bag, it can last for up to 3 months.
Date bark has earned its place as a viral sensation for good reason. It delivers on the promise of a healthier dessert without sacrificing taste or satisfaction. The recipe combines the natural sweetness of dates with the familiar flavours people crave from candy bars, all while providing actual nutritional benefits like fibre, vitamins, and minerals. It takes less than 20 minutes to make and requires no baking or complicated techniques. For anyone looking to satisfy a sweet tooth without reaching for processed candy, date bark offers a simple, accessible solution that lives up to the hype.