Dates, where have you been all my life! Not the dinner-and-a-movie kind of dates (though I could use a few more of those too *coughMattcough*) but the chewy, naturally sweet, wrinkly little fruit kind of dates. I’ve seen them all over the internet lately as a sticky but sweet filling, or a healthy alternative for sugar. I finally gave in and tried my hand at making some sticky, sweet filling (maybe I’ll try the healthy route some other day) and it was even more satisfying than I thought it would be!
The filling tastes like a cross between a fig bar and a sticky Caramilk, sandwiched in between two spiced oatmeal cookies. One bite and I guarantee you’ll go mmmmmm.
Having never worked with dates before I was a little skeptical. I mean they not the most attractive looking fruit; they look like little wrinkly prunes. Or raisins. And I’m not a huge fan or raisins (unless they’re packed in a loaf of cinnamon bread or covered in chocolate). But every person I talk to raves about the suckers.
So I took them out of the bag and chopped them up in the tiniest little pieces I could muster. I don’t have a food processor (a food blogger’s crime) but something like a Magic Bullet would be perfect for the task. Anyway. I took them out of the bag, chopped them up, boiled them with some sugar and water, and it was like magic. The clumpy date pieces broke down into a wonderful, jelly-like paste.
I know for sure that I’ll be experimenting more with dates in the future, but for now the best way I can think to eat them is squished between two spiced oatmeal cookies. Crunchy, soft, chewy and sweet. And they’re insanely good warmed up in the microwave with a scoop of ice cream on top. I put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on most of my baked goods, but this ones take the cake.
Or takes the cookie.
| Date-Filled Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies | | Print |
- Oatmeal Cookies:
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 3 cups quick oats
- .
- Date Filling:
- 2 cups dates, chopped
- ¾ cups sugar
- ¾ cups water
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, then vanilla, mixing thoroughly.
- In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
- Stir dry ingredients into wet until just combined. Stir in oats. Cover dough and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375° while dough is chilling.
- Roll dough into teaspoon-sized balls and place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Use a fork to flatten balls slightly.
- Bake 8 minutes until browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- To make filling: combine dates, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until a thick paste forms. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Spread filling between two cookies and serve.
these look delicious!
Thanks Dina!
I LOVE dates! One of my guilty pleasures…for years…was to grab a date square when ordering a coffee somewhere. But these will do just fine… 😀 and I’m guessing less messy than the coffee shop ones! I’m already going ‘mmmmmmmm’ and I haven’t even tried them yet! Mmmmmmmmmm! 😀
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made these cookies tonight as a treat for my Dad. Of course my spouse and children had to taste test them before they leave the house:) These cookies received 4 very enthusiastic thumbs up from my family. I eat a gluten free diet and it was extremely tempting to try one but I held off knowing the consequences if I partook:( Thanks again for this wonderful recipe????????
For the Date Filling, boil the dates in day old strong coffee instead of water. Takes the sweetness out of the dates and adds another dimension to the flavor. Puree date mixture in a food processor to make extra smooth – and to find any pits that may have been hiding in the dates. This method also works great for making Matrimonial Cake.
My husbands granny used to make these cookies. By far they are my favourite cookie. The dates are sweet enough that you really don’t need to add the sugar to the date filling.
So good, right? I’ve recently cut back on my sugar intake, so I’d have to agree with you on omitting the added sugar to the date filling. For those who reeeeally have a sweet tooth, though…. 😀
I never added sugar to the filling,sometimes a teaspoon of vanilla.
Can we just use 1 cup of butter instead of shortening, what is the difference? Thank you.
Hi Yvonne, you can certainly substitute shortening. Generally speaking, butter imparts a richer flavour than shortening does but also creates a slightly denser cookie (since it contains water and shortening does not). That being said, if you don’t mind the slightly heavier texture, I’m sure butter would be utterly delicious used here. Substitution is 1 to 1 🙂
Hi .. Thanx for the delicious cookies
But I want ask about the sugar with the date I can use brown sugar
Hi Noura, apologies for the late reply. You can certainly use brown sugar! It will affect the texture slightly… but this might not be a bad thing if you like chewier cookies. White sugar creates a crispier end-product, hence the inclusion of both in our original recipe. I would substitute 2/3 the brown sugar in place of white sugar because I find brown to be sweeter than white.
OH, I can’t wait to make these!!!! I remember when I was little my mom would buy the boxed variety of Date Bars. She didn’t buy them very often, but, oh when she did, my dad and I would sneak them and pig out!! Can’t wait to try these!!!
I love this story! Nothing like food to bring out the best nostalgic memories. Let me know what you think of these cookies!
Hi….love these oatmeal date, just wondering if I can use 1/2 cup of coconut oil instead of lard?
So dang delicious. I am usually very into chocolate and almost all of our cookies have some form of chocolate, but these were so so so tasty. My 6 year old said they were the best cookies I had ever made. Will make again for sure!
This brings me back! Mom used to make these when we were little – dad used to nearly inhale them lol. For some reason though she stopped making them and I never found out why. When she passed a couple years ago it was late November which left us about a week to plan the funeral and completely empty her apartment (they had someone ready to move in December 1 of all things) so it was a whirlwind of grief and packing and sorting. It wasn’t til a couple weeks later I wanted to go through her recipes and make something she used to for Christmas ….I didn’t get her recipe box so I called sis, she didn’t have it either. Sadly it must have gotten mixed in with the stuff we donated so when I saw this recipe I jumped on it! The only difference that I can remember is she would either grate some orange zest in with the dates or add some juice to them in place of some of the water, so I used 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup orange juice. Thank you for bringing back some very fond memories of helping mom make these!
Could use dried apricots instead of dates
These turned out perfectly. One tweak: juice and rind of one clementine. All else as directed. I’m not a fan of date squares but these are a perfect ratio of cookie to filling. I’ll definitely make them again.
This is the second year that I have made these and my uncle loves them! Because my oven runs hot, I bake them a little over 6 minutes and I use parchment paper. They are sooo yummy!
Are these oatmeal cookies the soft chewie kind? My dad prefers the soft chewie kind as opposed to dense or crisp ones when used as a date sandwich cookie.
Can old fashioned oats be used in place of instant oats?
Thank you so much for a deliciously delightful Cookie recipe! I just finished making these and eating one lol. I used your recipe as a jump off point and made a few changes … i hope you don’t mind if I share them … I used all shortening instead of 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening, only 1 cup of sugar – brown, 1/2 tsp salt, I added 1/2 tsp. Baking powder, 2 cups instead of 3 oatmeal (other ingredients exactly the same), and in the date filling I used brown sugar and added 1/2 tsp vanilla. Absolutely scrumptious!
Can these be frozen once assembled?