Date Cookies (Grandma Cookies)

Submitted by Kree

"These are old fashioned cookies that have been in my family for many years. I have not tried them myself, but am submitting them in response to a request. I got the recipe from my great aunt, who says it's from her mother. She says they always used to call these "Grandma Cookies". I'm fairly sure you could use either softened butter or oil in place of the "fat"! Sorry I have no clue about how many cookies this makes or exactly how hot the oven should be!"

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 1 batch of cookies

ingredients

• 1 cup fat
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cream
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon clove
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup ground dates
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• walnuts or pecans (for topping)

directions

1. Cream fat and sugar.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
3. Chill for 2 hours or longer.
4. Break bits of dough and flatten down with glass, 3 inches apart on greased baking sheet.
5. Flatten with knife which has been dipped in cold water.
6. Put 1/2 walnut or pecan on top.
7. Bake for 10 minutes in moderate oven.

Reviews

[bildcase]

I used butter and it blended up well and I've had one cookie so far, and even though it's hot-out-of-the-oven, it tastes really good especially since I added in some coconut. I just had another one, and it was still warmish so the full flavor a little more evident. Verdict is just in from my visiting Uncle Pat and my Pop, and they're giving it the thumbs up, and this is from folks in their early to mid eighties. It'll be attractive to kids surely with the natural sweet of the dates, and the 2 cups of sugar. Incidentally, I used unsweetened coconut, which worked, but I like real sweet SWEETNESS, so I'll use sweetened coconut next time. Good wholesome recipe... I might throw some oats in next time!

 

[hardtack.n.lace]

I used shortening for the fat. I actually forgot the cream. I left out the nutmeg because I HATE nutmeg and I realized at the last minute that I had only a dash of cinnamon in the whole house. Even with all that, these cookies turned out nice. I was expecting my kids to reject them, but they liked them. Oh, and I didn't have walnuts or pecans for the topping either. Nice to find a recipe that will turn out even if not followed to the letter.

 

[stuckinarut]

Love the taste of these cookies. I must admit I was turned off by the texture of the raw dough. I used oil and it was very greasy. It was also very crumbly. I was going to chuck it in the garbage. It was an nice surprise to have them taste good. I got 7 dz cookies when I formed 1" balls. Thanks.

 

[Karen=^..^=]

Let me start by saying that I've never tasted a date in my life! I had a package of dates in the cabinet that I bought for a recipe I never made. I wanted to use them, so I decided to make these cookies. They are wonderful! They have an old fashioned, spicy flavor. A tiny bit crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, YUM! I now know what I'm going to do with the rest of the dates...make more of these cookies! Notes: Moderate oven is 350* in my books, so that's what I used. I got almost 5 dozen cookies out of the batch. I used balls of dough about 1 1/4" diam and did use a glass to flatten them to about 3/8". I used the knife in cold water to make an indentation for the walnut half (I wasn't sure if that's what I was supposed to do, as it just said "flatten", but I already had with the glass!). I also did not grind my dates, I just chopped them extremely fine, so they may as well have been ground :). I also used softened butter for the "fat". Thanks for sharing these... I really can't believe how much I love these cookies!