Date Tart Cookies Recipes

DATE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Combine the water and dates; stir into the dough along with the chopped pecans. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

DATE SWIRL COOKIES

Steps:

• In a saucepan, combine filling ingredients. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes stiff, 15-20 minutes. Chill. , For dough, cream butter and sugars in a bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add extract. Combine flour, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour. , On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough to a 12x9-in. rectangle, about 1/4 in. thick. Spread with half of the filling. Roll up, starting with the long end. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Wrap in plastic; chill overnight. , Cut rolls into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

DATE BUTTER TART

Steps:

• Make the pâte sucrée: Whisk the cream and egg yolk together in a small bowl. In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter on medium speed until you have a coarse meal. (Or use a food processor and pulse until you have a coarse meal.) Gradually add the cream and yolk and mix until just combined. Do not overwork the dough. Transfer to a large work surface and bring it together with your hands to incorporate completely. Shape it into a 1-inch disc and put in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up a little. Place it on a lightly floured work surface, sprinkle a little flour over the dough and roll it out into a ¼-inch-thick circle, flouring as necessary. Starting at one side, roll and wrap the dough around the rolling pin to pick it up. Unroll the dough over a 10-inch tart pan. Gently fit the dough loosely into the pan, lifting the edges and pressing the dough into the corners with your fingers. To remove the excess dough, roll the rolling pin lightly over the top of the tart pan for a nice, clean edge. Chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork and line the tart shell with a few coffee filters opened out, or with a piece of parchment paper. Fill the lined tart shell with beans or pie weights and bake 15 minutes, until set. Take the tart out of the oven and gently lift out the paper and beans. Return to the oven and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is an even golden brown. Set aside on a rack to cool completely.
• Make a vertical slit in each date and carefully remove the pit. Use your fingers to press the dates back into their natural shape. Place the dates, slit side down, in concentric circles in the tart shell, leaving ½ inch between each date.
• Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use a paring knife to scrape the seeds and pulp onto the butter. To make sure not to lose any of the seeds, run your vanilla-coated knife through the butter. Heat a medium sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the vanilla-streaked butter and the vanilla pod to the pan and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the butter browns and smells nutty. Discard the vanilla pod.
• Whisk the eggs and 2/3 cup sugar together in a bowl. Whisk in the flour and salt and stir in the warm butter to incorporate.
• Pour the batter over the dates in the tart shell. Sprinkle the top with the remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake 30 minutes, until the filling puffs up, browns and is set. Cool the tart at least 20 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

DATE NUT COOKIE PIES

Steps:

• To prepare the pastry, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of the cream and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Add more cream if necessary but stop before the dough is too wet. Tip half of the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a disk. Repeat with the remaining dough. Chill the disks for at least 2 hours.
• To prepare the filling, bring the dates and the water to a simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan. Cook until the dates are very soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dates and the water to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and add the pecans, walnuts, honey, orange zest, cardamom, cloves, and salt and pulse until you have a chunky paste. Let cool completely.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Working with one disk at a time, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/8 inch on a very lightly floured surface. (Less flour means a more tender cookie.) Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and set them about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining disk. You can reroll the dough once if you like.
• Scoop about a rounded 1/2 teaspoon of filling onto half of the dough circles. Brush the edges of the filling-topped circles with a bit of cream and top with another dough circle, gently pressing the edges to seal. Once you've sandwiched all of the cookies, use a fork to crimp all of the edges.
• Chill the cookies until firm, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Brush the top of each cookie with cream and sprinkle with a bit of sanding sugar. Bake until the cookies are golden and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool completely on a rack.
• Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

DATE TART COOKIES

Steps:

• COOKIE DOUGH: In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy; beat in eggs and vanilla.
• In another bowl, stir together flour, wheat germ, salt, nutmeg, and baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture, blending thoroughly.
• Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until easy to handle (at least 2 hours) for up to 3 days. Meanwhile, prepare date filling.
• DATE FILLING: In a small pan, combine all the ingredients except the vanilla. Cook over medium heat, stirring and mashing with a spooon, until mixture is thick and smooth. Stir in vanilla.
• Let cool; then cover and refrigerate.
• COOKIE ASSEMBLY: Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Take out 1/3 of the dough, leaving remaining dough in the refrigerator. On a well-floured board, roll out dough to 1/16-inch thickness; cut out with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Repeat with remaining dough, rolling and cutting one portion at a time.
• Place half the cookies slightly apart on greased baking sheets; spoon a heaping teaspoonful of filling into each. Cover each with another cookie and press edges together with a floured fork. Decoratively slash top, if desired.
• Bake in a 350°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to racks and let cool. Store airtight.

DATE COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Turn the mixer to low, add the egg and mix well to combine. Add the oats, flour and cinnamon and mix on low until combined. Fold in the dates and walnuts with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
• When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F; line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Scoop mounds of dough with a cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons per cookie) and place on the prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between cookies.
• Bake on the middle rack until golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

CHOCOLATE & DATE TART

Steps:

• Un-roll the pastry sheet onto a lightly floured surface, mix the cocoa powder and icing sugar together. Use a sieve to sprinkle all over the pastry sheet, then fold in half like a book and chill for 15 mins. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry sheet into a slightly larger rectangle, big enough to line a 20cm tart tin. Line the tin, leaving any overhanging pastry - you'll trim this away once the tart is baked. Chill for 30 mins on a baking tray. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
• Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Bake for 15-20 mins, then remove the paper and beans and bake for 15 mins more, until cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave the case to cool in its tin, then trim the sides.
• While the pastry is cooling, make the date caramel. Warm the coconut milk until steaming, then pour 120ml of the coconut milk over the dates. Soak for 5 mins then tip into a food processor with the vanilla extract and a big pinch of flaky salt. Blitz until smooth. Spread the caramel onto the base of the tart and put in the fridge for 30 mins to set a little.
• To make the ganache topping, heat the remaining coconut milk over a low heat until steaming. Put the chocolate and coconut oil in a large bowl and pour the warm coconut milk over the top. Leave to sit for a minute, then gently stir until combined. Spoon the mixture over the caramel and spread it out - don't worry if the caramel comes up the sides a bit. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and leave to set in the fridge for about an hour, then bring to room temperature before slicing and serving.

CHEWY DATE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add egg; mix well. Combine the flours, lemon zest, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in dates., Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container.

DATE-NUT MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°F.
• In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. With the mixer on high speed, beat in salt; then gradually add sugar, about a tableshppon at a time, beating well after each addition, until whites fold stiff, glossy peaks.
• Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Fold in dates and walnuts.
• Drop meringue mixture by rounded teaspoonfulls onto well-greased cooking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake in a 200°F oven for 1 hour or until outside is dry and set; cookies should not turn brown.
• Let cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks and let cool completely. Store airtight.