Best 4 Date Nut Pinwheel Recipes

DATE NUT PINWHEEL COOKIES I

Steps:

• Chop pitted dates in food chopper. Place dates into small saucepan and add 1/4 cup sugar, dash of salt, and 1 1/4 cups of water. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture is of a soft consistency. Remove from heat.
• Add grated lemon rind, lemon juice, and chopped nuts. Mix well and chill.
• Cream together 3/4 cup butter and gradually add 1/2 cup white sugar and 1cup lightly packed brown sugar. Beat well. Beat 2 eggs until thick and add to creamed mixture part at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla.
• Measure into a sifter 3 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Sift together twice. Sift dry ingredients into creamed mixture about 1/4 at a time. Combine thoroughly after each addition. Chill until firm.
• Divide dough into 3 parts. Roll out 1 part at a time into a rectangle. Spread with date filling. Roll up jelly roll fashion in waxed paper. Chill several hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• With sharp knife, slice 1/4 inch thick slices off of rolls and place on greased cookie sheets. Bake 10 - 13 minutes. Let cool.

DATE-NUT (PINWHEEL) COOKIES

Steps:

• Filling: Combine, mix, and cook ingredients listed for filling over medium heat in pot until sugar melts and mixture achieves consistency of a paste. Let it cool. (Put it in an airtight container in refrigerator until the dough is ready to receive this filling spread on top. Take it out in time to let it warm up and become more spreadable. You may want to heat it briefly in a microwave if it is too cold, but don't let it reach much more than room temperature. No microwave in my childhood, so this is a new possibility.) For Dough: Cream butter and all sugar (white and brown). Add beaten eggs to creamed mixture. Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly, and gradually mix into combination of butter, sugar, and eggs. Divide dough into 4 or 5 sections, wrap in plastic or place in sealed containers, and chill well (in refrigerator, typically overnight per my dear old mom's activities in my childhood). Roll out each dough segment into an oblong length, perhaps 1/8 inch thick (or so), as I recall. (My mother used plastic wrap with flour dusted on it to receive the dough and to roll it out.) Preparing the Cookies Using Rolled Dough and Filling and Baking: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread filling on top of length of rolled, flat dough (some five inches by 24 to 30 inches, as I recall). This rolled dough length should be ROUGHLY five inches wide and much longer. When the filling is on top of the dough, roll the dough into a spiral of dough and filling. The roughly five inch wide direction is the direction of the roll, and the result should be a long tube of rolled dough. Cut these into 1/2 inch wide lengths (which should look like spirals of dough and filling), and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies in preheated 375 degree F oven for ten or fifteen minutes. (Check them at ten, and adjust the time for what works with your pans and oven.)

DATE NUT PINWHEEL COOKIES

Steps:

• Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla, and blend thoroughly.
• Add flour mixture, blending to make a soft dough. Refrigerate dough about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, make filling. In a small saucepan, add dates, sugar, and water. Cook until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Mix in peel and nuts. Cool.
• Divide cookie dough in half. Roll 1/2 into 8x10 rectangle. Spread 1/2 of filling over rolled dough. Beginning at long end, roll dough, jelly roll fashion, and wrap in plastic. Repeat with other half of dough. Refrigerate both rolls several hours or overnight.
• With a thin, sharp knife, slice cookies into 1/4" slices. Place on cookie pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes.
• ORANGE-FIG cookies: Make filling of 1-1/4 C figs, 1/4 C sugar, 3/4 C water. Cook approximately 10 minutes, then add 1 tbsp orange peel and 1/2 C finely chopped walnuts. Proceed as above using orange-fig filling instead of date filling.

DATE NUT PINWHEEL COOKIES II

Steps:

• Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Sift the cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and flour together in a second mixing bowl. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture until evenly blended.
• Divide the dough evenly into three portions and place each on a square of waxed paper. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, make the filling by combine the dates, pecans, water and white sugar in a saucepan set over low heat. Cook and stir until the filling has a paste-like consistency. Cool slightly.
• Working with one portion at a time, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to make a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Spread 1/3 of the filling evenly over the dough; roll up to make a log. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly grease two baking sheets.
• Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the rolls into 1/4 inch slices. Place the slices on prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven until set and lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Cool on racks.