These cookies are another one of my mum’s speciality recipes. They happen to be one of my all time favorite cookies. They are crunchy, not too sweet, easy to make, they can last for a long time (if you can keep your hands off them) and they make for a wonderful gift .
What more can you ask for from a cookie?
A lovely memory that makes you smile whenever you make them.
As you may already know, I used to help mum with the prep work for recipes and in this particular one that meant I was in charge of pitting the dates. When mum made these cookies, she would make triple or even four times the recipe provided here. I would easily find myself face to face with 1-2 kg of dates to pit
If you have never pitted dates I can tell you this much, you are getting yourself into one sticky situation (and believe me sticky is an understatement). At first, you will be on top of things, getting the pits out with little or no effort. Your fingers are slightly sticky but you hardly notice. Then slowly, the sweet sticky flesh of the dates starts sticking to your fingertips, next your fingers start sticking together and your productivity is down by at least 50% because you spend more time removing sticky dates from your fingers or washing your hands every 5 minutes than you do removing pits. Then at long last you finish, and it is cookie time and the smell of the first patch of cookies makes you forget the sticky mess you were in.
I bite into one of these cookies and I am a kid again, in my mum’s kitchen, waiting for the first cookies to cool enough to eat without burning the top of my mouth. Mum is smiling, the kitchen is warm and smells of cinnamon and cardamom fill the air. Worries, to do lists, are not in my vocabulary yet. Life is simple and sweet.
I know some of you will read the recipe and go: what?! fried cookie?!No way!
Trust me, you won’t be able to tell this was fried. The dough is so thin that it hardly absorbs any oil. The frying only helps cook the dough and make it crunchy. If in doubt,humor me and try half a patch and I am sure you will be in love with the first bite.If you don’t you will be missing out BIG TIME.
Swirl date cookies
2 cups flour
2 cups semolina
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground anise
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water
For the dates
I used 200-250 grams of pitted dates
To add flavor to the date you can add, all, any or a combination of the following
Cinnamon
cardamom
Nigella seeds
sesame seeds
The amounts are really up to your preference and how pronounced you want the flavor to be but I wouldn’t go above 2/3 teaspoon of each
Whisk your flour, salt, anise and semolina in a bowl
Add the oil and rub it in with your fingertip until it is absorbed fully
Add the water gradually and knead gently (don’t over work it ) until the mixture comes together (you may not need all the water )
As you can see you only want the dough to come together, it won’t be a soft ball of dough as in pastry or bread
Divide mix in half, form each half into a roll and then wrap it and allow to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes
In the mean time knead the pitted dates with the spices and seeds if using
Take one roll out and cut it into 1 to 1.5 cm slices
Roll each slice into a circle
Take a piece of date and roll it between two sheets of oiled parchment or simply press it between the palms of your hands until it is thin and flat
Place the date circle on top of the dough one
Roll the dough
seal the edges (the date will burn if it touches the oil uncovered)
Heat the oil in a pot until the oil bubbles around a little ball of dough as soon as it is dropped in
Add one roll at a time wait a couple of minutes then add another
Don’t do more than 4-5 or the oil will become cold causing the rolls to absorb too much oil
When the rolls are golden brown take them out of the oil and onto some kitchen towels to absorb any excess oil
Cut each roll into three pieces using a sharp knife on the diagonal
I am submitting this post to Sugar Free Sundays a wonderful potluck to exchange incredible sugar free recipes to inspire everyone to start the week right!
milkandbun
/ December 20, 2012I like cookies with dates!:) But prefer not fried- baked.
Choc Chip Uru
/ March 14, 2012I have really been into dates lately so this is heaven in a cookie! Wow
I love how beautiful the swirls look my friend – beautiful!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Sawsan@ Chef in disguise
/ March 15, 2012Thank you
I am glad you like these, their taste is even better than their looks
Olivia
/ December 5, 2011These look so cute and delicious! They are also vegan too which I am very excited about– will have to try to make soon! I am also in love with your beautiful teapot + cups! Where are they from?
thefooddoctor
/ December 6, 2011The pot and cups were one of our wedding gifts..I sadly don’t know where they were bought from
Looking forward to hearing what you think when you get to try them
miriam
/ December 1, 2011oops..I dont read arabic..could you spell it out phonetically in english..thanks
thefooddoctor
/ December 1, 2011Sure it is called makrootat el tamer al halazoneh
miriam
/ December 1, 2011wonderful..what is the arabic name for this sweet?
thefooddoctor
/ December 1, 2011Hello Miriam this is called مقروطه التمر الحلزونيه
Eva Taylor
/ November 29, 2011Sawsan, this cookie looks amazing. I love dates! We are very lucky in Canada we can buy pitted dates!
thefooddoctor
/ November 29, 2011We can buy pitted dates here too Eva, but they are usually ground and are almost like a paste. In that stage they lack the texture needed for the cookie filling
Eva Taylor
/ December 1, 2011Interesting, our pitted dates are soft but still have some texture, they still look entirely like dates, just pitted.
Kennedy
/ November 27, 2011why is my comments waiting moderation??
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011Kennedy sorry for the inconvenience but all comments await moderation because sadly there is a lot of spam comments and some people who link to sites that are inappropriate to say the least.
It is not targetted at wonderful people like you who leave a comment or a question.
It is just to insure nothing inappropiate or offensive gets on the blog
Sarah
/ November 26, 2011Looks lovely. I think the recipe seems to be missing the amount of pitted Dates to be used.
thefooddoctor
/ November 26, 2011Sarah it is about 200 -250 grams of dates
I will update the post now
Tanja (@TCookingCorner)
/ November 26, 2011Crunchy, not too sweet, easy to make. Sounds like THE perfect cookie for me
Beautiful photos, your tea set is lovely!!
Chica Andaluza
/ November 26, 2011This looks so good and I don´t have a problem with it being fried! Love dates and we should be getting them more easily in a week or so here. These would be lovely for Christmas when my parents are over
Kristy
/ November 26, 2011I’ve never used dates myself, but really enjoyed a date bread I ate once. Maybe we’ll have to try these. They certainly are cute! And any cookie that makes you forget your to-do list…I’m all over that.
Geni
/ November 26, 2011These are the best looking cookies ever. The date mixture sounds heavenly.
F.Emme
/ November 26, 2011Beautiful! Sounds like an even more flavorful ma’moul, what with the cardamom and nigella seeds.
ChgoJohn
/ November 26, 2011As soon as you mentioned pitting the dates, I immediately thought of your poor little fingers sticking together. These must be really wonderful cookies if you still wanted some after suffering the ordeal of pitting all of the dates used to make them.
Just A Smidgen
/ November 26, 2011Such a pretty cookie and I love that it has anise in it. You are lucky to have grown up with treats like these:)
Fox@n
/ November 26, 2011I gotta make yhese i have soooooo many dates
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011If you like dates you will love these
If you ever get to make them I would love to hear what you think
Bam's Kitchen
/ November 26, 2011Amazing little cookie and I love anything with dates. What are Nigella seeds? Any alternatives if i cannot find this ingredient? I love your tea pot, so beautiful!
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011Thank you Bam.
Nigella seeds are seeds that look exactly like sesame seeds but they are black in color.
No need for an ulternative, you can omit them all together
eva626
/ November 26, 2011will baking them also work?? they look attractive btw!
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011I have never tried baking this recipe Eva but I have a recipe for a baked date cookie coming soon
Courtney
/ November 26, 2011I love recipes that bring back memories! It’s amazing how food can do that. And thanks for the heads up about dates – never pitted them before…
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011I love food that comes with sweet memories too.
As for the dates, you just have to try to see what I am talking about
Savory Simple
/ November 26, 2011These sound delectable. Thank you for the recipe!
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011Thank you for stopping by
fati's recipes
/ November 26, 2011Mmm, these look good. My mum’s friend made date swirls recently and she gave us some, but there weren’t like these ones… I’m sure that yours taste as good as hers, too!
That’s the advantage of living in the middle east… fancy. fancy. fancy. everything. right down to the tissue box cover! I can’t wait to go back there. I hope the situation calms down in Syria!
I must also say, just because… I LOVE your teapot!
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011hehehe it is hardly fancy my friend
You can find these stuff everywhere here in the middle east..You should see me when I go into one of these shops..I am like a kid in a toy store
I pray things in Syria will settle soon and I hope all your loved ones there are safe
Kennedy
/ November 26, 2011wow.. they look awesome! I will try to make them, my regards to your Mom
My husband is trying to find a Cookie recipe with date filling. My mom used to bake her cookies first then sandwich the Date filling in-between, but his mom used to cook the date inside the circular cut cookie dough, one larger than the other! Have you seen these?
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011So sorry for the delay Kennedy
Thank you for your regards
I am sorry but I have never seen the cookies you talk about. I have a few more date cookie recipes that I will be posting soon. I hope you will try them and maybe one of them will be close to the one you are looking for
ceciliag
/ November 26, 2011i lOVE dates, my mum cooked with the often too, and i will humour you and make them.. no problems!!.. wonderful! c
thefooddoctor
/ November 28, 2011My mum uses dates in cakes, cookies and bread and I love it too
I hope you’ll like it C
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide
/ November 26, 2011What a stunning cookie. I love that it includes semolina flour too.
thefooddoctor
/ November 26, 2011Thank you Greg.The semolina adds so much texture to it.I tried it once with all flour and it was no where near as good as it is with semolina