30 large pitted dates
30 large walnuts, halves
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 glaze:
4 tbsp butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk, up to 3 t
Directions
Adjust a rack to the top position in the oven and preheat the oven to
400. Cut parchement to fit cookie sheets. Slit one long side of each
date, stuff with one walnut half or a few pieces of walnut. Close the
date around the nut and set aside.
Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set
aside. Cream the butter, add the vanilla and the sugar and beat to
mix well. Add the egg and beat thouroughly. On the lowest speed
gradually add half the dry ingredients, then all of the sour cream,
then the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl after each
addition and beat only until combined. Transfer the dough to a
shallow bowl for easier handling.
Using two forks, drop each stuffed date into the the dough and roll it
around until it is completely coated. There will be enough dough to
cover each date, but don't overdo it or you won't have enough to go
around. Using the forks, place the dough coated dates 2-3 inches
apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes until lightly browned.
While baking, prepare the glaze. Melt the butter and mix it well with
the remaining ingredients, using only enough milk to make the mixture
the consistency of soft mayonnaise. Keep the glaze covered when you
are not using it.
Remove the cookies form the oven. With a pastry brush, immediatley
brush the tops with a generous coating of the glaze. Transfer cookies
to a rack to cool. Let them stand until the glaze is dry. NOTES
: The dates I purchased from the Coop were huge. We cut the date in
half and stuffed them with walnut pieces. These aren't the most
beautiful cookies but boy are they good.
Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #1
Recipe by: Maida Heater's Book of Great Cookies. pp. 58-9
From: Sue
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 18:48:36 -0500 (EST)
Servings: 30 servings
Blind Date Cookies Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cookie; Fruit
The History of Recipes
We are able to track the history of written recipes back into ancient history, certainly as far back into recorded history as the Egyptians, and maybe further still. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these early cook books were just very simple hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing food.
The truth of the matter is, the oldest recipe in existence, according to experts is a collection of ancient tablets in Sumerian describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel `wonderful`. As we move on, we have a couple of recipe books from the 14th Century ; a recipe book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another titled `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these two books are unconnected to the indian food that we all know today, but rather descriptions of the types of food prepared for the upper classes of those days. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods, spices and herbs from Arab cooking, including rosemary and coriander. These new spices and herbs led to an eruption in recipe publications, most of which still exist in academic collections. During the following few hundred years, the upper-class families of Europe competed to serve the best banquets, and as a consequence, the best cooks and their recipe collections were highly sought after. Even so, it was during the 19th century that haute cuisine and recipe books really came of age. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to assembling, verifying, and recording recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. By the advent of the 20th century, cooking publications were highly popular due to more people being able to read, people having more leisure time and disposable income. The revolution that is television brings us TV cooks and the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing us all to search through massive numbers of recipes like those on the site you are now reading. |
We hope you enjoy this Blind Date Cookies recipe.
