Grandma Lil’s Date Cookies
- rbertling9
- Dec 15, 2015
- 2 min read
I have been eating this cookie my entire life. My dad’s Mom, my Grandma Lil, made this cookie at Christmas time. My mom took up the tradition and now I am making the cookie (my mom still helps). They are in such demand in my family that we make a double batch and we still don’t have enough.
Now I do the rolling and my helpers do the filling, and crimping. We make some whole ones just for show – but we make as many ½ moons as we can.
This is such a special treat – not only because it is that good, but also because it only comes around once a year. I hope you give it a try. Enjoy.
Makes about 6 dozen 3” cookies*
Cookie Ingredients
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 TBSP cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs, cream and vanilla and mix until blended. In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients and slowly add to wet. You may need to add a little extra flour to get dough consistent enough to roll. I do no chill my dough.
Working in batches roll dough thin and cut 3” rounds. You can keep rolling scraps until all of the dough is used up. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Place a rounded teaspoonful of filling on each.
Fold over like a turnover, pressing edges together with the tines of a fork. Bake about 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned.
Filling Ingredients
(Can be made the night before but bring to room temperature before using).
1½ cups chopped and pitted dates**
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cool.
*As I mentioned we double this recipe – so I am not sure if we would get this amount of cookies. We just keep making them until the filling or dough runs out – whichever comes first!
**I buy the 10 ounce round containers of finely chopped dates. And since we double this recipe I use three 10 ounce containers of dates and double the rest of the ingredients. If the date mixture gets a little too thick you can thin with a little water.
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