A rich, exquisite cookie is created by combining the sweetness of the dates and the tang of the orange.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 48 |
| Yield: | 4 dozen |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups chopped pitted dates
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- ¾ cup orange juice
- ¾ cup water
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ⅔ cup chopped pecans
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine the dates, 1/4 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, orange juice and water. Cook, stirring frequently until the dates have softened. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon orange zest and pecans. When mixture has cooled, process in a food processor or blender until pecans are finely ground. Set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, 1/2 cup white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time then stir in the vanilla and 2 teaspoons orange zest. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients to form a smooth dough. Divide dough into thirds, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm.
- Roll each third of the dough out into a rectangle 1/4 inch in thickness. Spread 1/3 of the filling over each rectangle leaving a 1 inch strip of dough uncovered on one of the long sides. Starting at the edge opposite of the uncovered strip, roll the dough up jellyroll style and press lightly to seal. Wrap the rolls in waxed paper and refrigerate until firm.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. slice chilled rolls of dough into coins about 1/4 inch thick. Place slices 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly golden. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 114 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 18 g |
| Cholesterol | 15 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 82 mg |
| Sugars | 10 g |
| Fat | 4 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
These were easier than I’d feared they’d be. Be sure to boil the filling very well until it truly thickens and let it cool completely. I chopped my dates pretty fine and my pecans as well before cooking the filling. I found 12 minutes in the oven was perfect. Also be certain to chill before and after filling and rolling. These are very tasty, not overly sweet. If you like fig newtons you will love these. I think these are miles better! Thank you for a great recipe I will make year after year.
Love that these cookies are not overly sweet. Have been making them for years. The orange adds just the right amount of citrus to counter the sweetness of the dates. YUM!!!!!
accidently put the orange zest in the dough. It seemed pretty dry too .. the dough…maybe because I only had medium eggs. The orange zest in the dough was excellent. I did use stevia instead of white sugar. Anyway, they turned out really really good.
Went back and forth between this one and the Date Pinwheels II recipe but felt that one called for too much sugar. I was really worried when the dough seemed so heavy and hard to work with when I rolled it out after chilling it. Next time I will make more date filling as I would prefer more of the date taste. However, these turned out great for a cookie exchange and made almost 5 dozen.
Tasted wonderful. Due to high altitude I made some minor adjustments.
This is my favorite cookie of all time! Made them tonight for the retirement home. I could not find my normal recipe so I used this one. Perfect! Mine are never perfectly round but they taste sooooo good!
These cookies are soooo good,almost addictive. I added 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg to the cookie dough portion. It made them extra wonderful. REMINDER>>> The soft dough HAS to be REFRIGERATED ,BEFORE ROLLING. & AGAIN AFTER filling & rolling, in order to slice easily.
I think this cookie flavor is good, but they didn’t look like they should. Maybe leaving an empty strip of dough on both sides of the roll could give a more “pinwheel” look? Oh, and these cookies are great with coffee!
These cookies are absolutely wonderful. This is a recipe that my mom used to make when we were children. I remember helping her make these cookies. I used finely chopped pecans, thus omitting having to use the food processor. I used 2 teaspoons of baking powder omitting the baking soda & reduced amount of salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
Great! A bit complicated, but worth the work. I’ll definitely make them again.
The best! After chilling, the dough was VERY easy to roll out. I sliced only two of the logs (I put the third one in the freezer), and got 48 cookies. They taste and look terrific! Thank you 🙂
a little time consuming but I make them every year because they are just delicious!