Macadamia Date Roll Cookies – Perfect for the Holidays

Macadamia Date Roll Cookies

Date Rolls Cookies are a Christmas tradition in my family. The sweet and nutty filling wrapped up in butter based cookie dough just melts in the mouth. So delicious you can’t stop eating.

Delicious Macadamia Date Rolls Cookies

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Video Recipe – Macadamia Date Roll Cookies

Collaboration with Food 7 other Food Bloggers for Christmas Cookies

Since this month is all about the holidays, me and my food blogger friends thought we’d come up with some Christmas Cookies for you. Here are 6 Festive Cookies that are absolutely amazing. And they do include two no bake cookies as well as a gluten free cookie recipe in there. So now no complaining you have a good excuse to try one of them.  Don’t forget to look for the links below

What is the one thing you remember most about Christmas from your childhood?

Is it the presents? Santa? The decorations? Christmas Dinner? For me it’s the baking with my mom. I think I told you before, as a single mom the two things she did to raise us is sewing and cooking/baking. She’s take lots of orders during Christmas time just so she could give us the Christmas she dreamed for us. Gosh I cannot imagine how hard she worked just so Santa could bring us the gifts we asked. She hated to see us disappointed and pushed her to do so much more.

These are Date Roll cookies and while the nut often changes, the dates remain the same. I’m sure they’d taste amazing with figs or apricots as well but I’ve always used dates and that’s because mom always used dates. I remember these were so popular that she made buckets of these. I’d help to paint the red and green stripes and that’s why they remind me of mom and Christmas even more.

Despite being so far away from Christmas here in Israel where we don’t celebrate Christmas; I share with my kids and raise them with the Christmas spirit doing the same things mom did. I like remembering her by baking with the kids; makes me feel like a better mother.

Christmas Baking – Macadamia Date Roll Christmas Cookies

Macadamia date roll cookies dough.

These are really easy to make if you follow the process I’ve given you closely. The dough is really simple and you can see in the video I don’t even use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar. Th dough takes 3 minutes literally to mix up.  BUT – Let the cookie dough chill when I tell you to; so they are easy to work with. Mom always said – remember a CHILLED COOKIE DOUGH IS YOUR BEST FRIEND.

Christmas Cookie Baking – Macadamia Date Roll Cookies

Give them a Christmas Make-Over.

As you can see these make great Christmas Gift Jars. Perfect treats for the holiday. And to them them one step further I even gave them a Christmas Make Over with these red and green stripes. I used edible gel colors diluted with some water. You can use super market brand water based colors too. No big fuss with which colors to use here.

Christmas Cookie Jar with Date Roll Cookies

Let’s talk ingredients for our Macadamia Date Roll Cookies – Shall we?

This is a very versatile cookie and you’ll see why?

• Dates – These are date roll cookies but the can very well be fig roll cookies or apricot roll cookies or you decide. Heck you can use a combination of them too!
• Macadamia – I used macadamia this time but I often use Pecan (my husbands favorite nuts) But as a kid mom made with Cashews or Walnuts. So you see again the nut can be your choice too – told ya!!
• Consistency – now while you can change the nuts and the fruit – the one thing you wanna make sure you do is keep the ratio of fruit to nut as 3:1 which means 3 parts fruit and one part nuts; more or less. As you will see in the video above – these need to be rolled into logs so they can be then wrapped into the dough. You can roll them better when the ration of fruit to nut is balanced. Again – approximate 3 to 1 ratio is good.
• Spices – For variation you can add some Christmas Spice in these too. I don’t and honestly it’s just because mom didn’t but a mix of some warm spices such as ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg would really bring a lot more to these cookies.

Date Roll Cookies with Macadamia

Let’s get into the recipe shall we? – Macadamia Date Roll Cookies

Tools

Food Processor
Baking Bowls
Whisk / Spatula
Rolling Pin
Baking Trays

Ingredients

For the dough

250 grams / 2 cups  – All Purpose Flour
200 grams – Confectioners Sugar / Icing Sugar
170 grams – Unsalted Butter
1 Egg
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla

For the Filing

120 grams Macadamia
300 grams Dates
1/4 tsp mixed spices (optional)

Method

Prepare Cookie Dough

Add Baking Powder and Salt to the flour – set aside
Add Vanilla to the egg – set aside.
Cream butter and confectioners sugar until creamy
Add egg and vanilla – combine till until smooth
Add flour in three batches
Once well combined – divide into two or three batches and form discs
Wrap discs in cling wrap to chill well.

Prepare Filling

In a food processor add the nuts and spices – grind until really find but not into a flour consistency
Remove the nut mixture aside.
Remove the seeds from the dates and add them to the food processor.
Pulse until broken into tiny pieces as shown in the video.
Now add the nut mixture back into the food process with the dates
Pulse until is all comes together
If you take  a little mixture into your hand, you should be able to roll into a ball.
If not pulse some more – then set the mixture aside.

Make the macadamia date rolls

This is fairly simple.
Just take a little mixture into your hand – form ball then roll it into a log.
You want thin logs so the resulting cookies will be delicate and pretty.
Do not make them very long – they are easier to handle in lengths of 10 to 15 inches.

Assemble the Macadamia date roll cookies

Ensure the dough is really well chilled.
Roll dough into a sheet as shown in the video
Place a filling roll on the sheet at one end.
Use a tiny amount of water to help stick the dough together
Wrap the dough into a log.
Place the rolls onto a baking sheet with Parchment Paper
Place the rolls back into the fridge –
Cover tray with cling wrap to avoid them getting too dry.

Cut and bake the roll cookies

Preheat oven at 190 C / 380 F
Once chilled the logs are easier to handle.
Cut them into two inch pieces – I use a ruler so they are all same size
Brush with egg wash  OR
Create red and green Christmas stripes
Sprinkle some granulated sugar on them
Bake in the preheated oven for about 9 to 10 minutes.
Once baked let them cool 10 minutes before you move them to a baking rack.
Cool completely before you place them in a cookie jar.

Perfect Holiday Cookies

Here is my video on You Tube for those of you that cannot watch the above video. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel – I have a new video every week.

Recipe Card to Print – Macadamia Date Roll Cookies
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Finally the links to the rest of the cookies in the collage above.

Holiday White Chocolate Mini Popcorn Balls – by Gloria Duggan  of Homemade & Yummy
Gingerbread Cookies – by Melissa Radcliffe of My Wife Can Cook
No-Bake Cinnamon Peanut Butter Cranberry Cookies – By Arlene Braun Mobley of Flour on my Face
Gluten Free Spiced Cookie Brittle – by Sarah Jane Parker of The Fit Cookie
No Bake Chocolate Cranberry Cookie – by Kirsten Burrows of Treat yourself Sweeter.
And of course – My Macadamia Date Roll Cookies  

That’s it..!

Macadamia Date Roll Cookies for Christmas Jar Cookies

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