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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Date Pinwheels

Every Christmas I like to make a variety of cookies - some new recipes, some old. Date Pinwheels is one of my recipes that has been passed down from my mother, and it is one that I make every single Christmas. An old recipe that fills the house each year with the fresh aroma of Christmas



It's a little bit of work to make these delicious cookies, so I only make them once a year - at Christmas. My memories of my dear mother, though, are filled with these cookies being baked in her kitchen not just at Christmastime, but occasionally, throughout the year. 

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup sugar (or fructose)
1 tablespoon molasses
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling:
1 pound dates, cut up
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup water

Instructions:
1) Cream butter, beat in sugars. Add eggs, beat thoroughly. Add dry ingredients, then vanilla; mixing thoroughly. Chill in refrigerator a few hours.
2) Put the filling ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until dates are soft. (I also send the date mixture through a small food grinder, after it has been cooked, in order to make a very smooth paste.) Cool.
3) Divide dough into about four portions. Roll each portion into a thin (about 1/4 inch thick) rectangle. Spread with the date filling mixture, and roll up carefully.
4) Wrap in wax paper, and chill for a few hours or overnight.
5) Cut into thin slices, and bake at 325 degrees for about 8 minutes.

Yield: about 10 dozen







(My recipe has been adapted slightly from my mother's recipe, as I like to use whole wheat pastry flour, and also fructose and honey - so my version is a bit different than my mother's original recipe. The same great taste, but ingredients a bit more suited to my husband's preferences. These are his favorite cookies of any that I make.)

NOTE: Sharing a more recent photo, from Christmas 2016 ...



Linking up to Tasty Tuesday



4 comments:

  1. These look beautiful! I was wondering if you knew what your measurement of flour weighed in grams or ounces? Do you have a scale? It is just I am from the UK and though I do have a set of cups, find when it comes to flour my flour tends to measure way off and the recipe always ends in disaster!! If not, would you mind sharing how you fill your cup? i.e. scoop and level or spoon into the cup, leaving it heaped?

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    1. Ben, I do not have a scale. But the way I measure my flour for this recipe is "scoop and level". Hope that helps! I hope you have success with this recipe.

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  2. Sorry to be dim (!) but by that do you mean you use the cup to scoop through the flour or a scoop that you use to spoon it into the cup?

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    Replies
    1. I use the cup to scoop through the flour, and then level. Hope you have success! This recipe is a little time-consuming to make, but a favorite.

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