Old Fashioned Date Filled Oatmeal Cookies

These rainy Tucson days are great for a lot of things, other than cleaning the spines on the cactus. Maybe I should have washed all the windows earlier than last week and we'd have had this rain arrive sooner! One thing's for certain - that new range is certainly getting a work out because the cool weather makes for perfect baking days.

These old fashioned cookies really bring back a lot of memories. Growing up, they were one of my favorites and Mother used to make them all the time to hide in our school lunches. They start out crisp, but as they age, they get soft and gooey and just darn wonderful. I love the things. This particular recipe's adapted from my old Purity Cookbook - you can tell its popularity by the stains on the pages. Have you got one or two of those kinds of cookbooks too? Download Old Fashioned Date Filled Oatmeal Cookies

I cooked the dates along with some water, a touch of sugar (they don't need much), and some orange zest, then set it aside to make the cookies. A comparatively small amount of flour is combined with a lot of brown sugar and a massive amount of oatmeal to make these wonderful things, with oil and water added as the liquid ingredients. The cookies are then rolled out very thinly, cut into circles and baked until golden brown and crisp - about 5 to 7 minutes. Oh just a note - unlike pastry, this cookie dough does not suffer from being overworked, so don't be afraid to roll and re-roll your scraps. Once cooled they're sandwiched together with the date filling and dusted with a little powdered sugar. When you're making them quite honestly you think you'll never get to the end of the bowl, but the recipe only makes 3 dozen of the filled sweeties, so don't worry that you're going to have too many.

I know for a fact the great white hunter and his side kick won't be complaining one bit when they take these on the road at the end of the month. We have just one small, teeny weeny problem though. The blasted things are languishing in the freezer right above that deep dark chocolate cake that's still calling my name. Trouble - just plain trouble!

Comments

[noble pig]

I have dates and love them!! This looks so yummy!!!

[Lea]

Oh yum!!!!! - think I just might have to bake some cookies soon - all of my favorite ingredients are in them - and to think - the oatmeal lowers cholesterol - so they are heart healthy!!!!! - Can't you donate the cake to a homeless shelter so you can be on moral high ground for 2 weeks instead of 1 since it will also support your moderation plan???? You could bake some extra brownies to go with them to be on extra high ground!

[June]

Cathy - in my opinion, second only to Sticky Toffee Pudding!

Lea - hey never thought about the heart healthy. Good excuse to have one right now! It might just kill me, but I'm sending the cake with the hunters at the end of the month. Mmm...brownies...now there's an idea.

[Mags]

I'm definitely voting that these are healthy! Just pretend you don't know that there's sugar in them...LOL

Great looking cookies June!

[June]

Thanks Mags. We'll ignore the oil too!

[Lea]

Contributing to the cause of the hunters should put you on moral high ground for a week!!!!! And they will appreciate the cake all the more since that activity makes you sooo hungry they will enjoy it tremendously!!!!! Great idea!!!! Now - take care of that heart and have another cookie!