Date and pistachio cookies
Versatile recipe can be made with a variety of fillings
This is the cookie recipe I make most frequently. There’s something wholesome and natural about these cookies. The sweetness comes more from the filling than the dough — and the dough is a dream to work with. The cookies present elegantly, but can easily be prepared by hand, so this is a good recipe to tuck away for Yom Tov.
It also is incredibly versatile — you can use just about any filling that you would use for a hamantaschen, so you can get pretty creative. I’m including my recipe for date filling, which I find superior to any paste sold at the grocery store. Apricot, quince and raspberry preserves also work well, but you can use any jam or paste you have on hand.
I love these cookies with pistachios, but you can also use walnuts, or omit the nuts if need be. I change the fillings to go along with the seasons and the holidays, which is why I use this recipe so often.
This recipe has no eggs, so it’s great if you’re vegan or have an allergy.
Ingredients
Makes 10-12 cookies, various sizes
Cookie dough
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ cup avocado oil, or 1 stick butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup orange juice
1/16 teaspoon kosher salt if using oil or unsalted butter/margarine
Date filling
1 ½ cups dried medjool dates
⅔ cup unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Powdered sugar for dusting
Remove the stems and pits from the dates using a small sharp knife. Put the dates into a small sauce pan. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to just cover the fruit. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and let the pot rest for a half-hour. The dates should be rehydrated and plump.
Reserve the water in the pot.
Take each piece out of the pot, peel the skin and put it into a medium-sized bowl. Add all the dates and hand mash them into a paste with a fork or potato masher. Add 2-3 tablespoons of the leftover soaking water to the dates to help the paste become more spreadable.
Add the pistachios and cinnamon, mix and set aside.
You can use an electric mixer to make the dough, or mix it by hand; it is easy to work with and comes together quickly.
Put all the ingredients for the dough in the bowl at once.
If using an electric mixer, mix on medium-low speed; the dough will form a ball in about 2 minutes. If mixing by hand, start mixing with a silicone spatula until the ingredients are well combined, then knead the dough by hand until it can form a ball. The dough should feel springy, slightly oily and very easy to work with — it should not stick to your hands. Be careful not to overwork the dough. If it seems sticky, add an extra tablespoon of flour; if it seems crumbly, add an extra tablespoon of water. This dough works best when used immediately at room temperature. If you have to make the dough ahead of time, only do so with butter or margarine, as oil separates even if it rests for only an hour in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 350 F and place the wire rack in the middle.
Tear a piece of parchment paper to the size of your baking sheet.
Roll out the dough on either the parchment or on your countertop, keeping it about ¼-inch thick; don’t make it too thin or it won’t roll up easily or contain the filling.
Spread your choice of filling across the dough, keeping 1-2 inches away from the edges.
Roll the dough, beginning with the long edge, by carefully turning it until it forms a log. Pinch both ends and tuck the bottom seam underneath.
If you’re working on your countertop, transfer the log of dough to the cookie sheet now.
Take a sharp knife and slice 90% of the way through the dough at 1-inch intervals. The dough will flatten as you cut it and the middle will be wider than the ends.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Whether using butter or oil, the cookies will be fairly light in color when they are removed from the oven.
Allow them to rest on the pan for 5 minutes before picking up the parchment paper and moving the cookies to a cutting board to cool.
The cookies need more than an hour to cool completely.
Let them rest and cut them again with a sharp knife so they separate completely.
Dust with powdered sugar.
These cookies hold up well for 2-3 days stored at room temperature. Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC
Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh. She can be reached at rubia711@gmail.com.
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