Friday, December 10, 2010

Date Pinwheel Cookies

Grandma brought us pre-made cookie dough for these.  All we had to do was roll them out, spread on the filling (which she also brought all done - gotta love that woman), roll them up, slice and bake them.  Oh, these are good.  Too good in fact, they only lasted a couple of days.  We did figure that since they had date filling they were probably healthy and so we even had them for breakfast one morning.  I think during the season of Christmas cookies that is okay to have cookies for breakfast.  She brought us half a batch of these as they make 16 dozen.  We got about five dozen out of our half as Dancer cut them a little wider to make a softer cookie.  Grandma used a recipe from Taste of Home, it follows below. 


Date Pinwheel Cookies

Ingredients


1 cup butter, softened

2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon Spice Island® Pure Vanilla Extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda



FILLING:

2-1/2 cups chopped dates

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide into four portions. Refrigerate until chilled.

In a large saucepan, bring the dates, sugar and water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cook until mixture is thickened, about 15 minutes. Cool completely. Stir in pecans.

On a baking sheet, roll out each portion of dough between two sheets of waxed paper into a 12-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Remove waxed paper; spread with date mixture. Tightly roll up each portion jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

Unwrap and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or freeze for up to 3 months. Yield: 16 dozen.

No comments: