Push two teaspoons of the chopped nuts into each date and set aside. Put the chocolate and butter into an ovenproof dish and place it over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate has melted.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-bake. In a food processor, chop the almonds and chocolate until they become small chunks. Chop the dates. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.

Tip the dates, peanuts, ground almonds, porridge oats, 4 tablespoons of the cocoa powder, the vanilla extract and almond milk into a food processor and blend for 2–3 minutes until the mixture ...

And to have a batch of homemade almond chocolate cookies fresh from the oven, the chocolate chips still melting? Well, that might be the date night equivalent of a home run. And, if romance is on ...