Oatmeal Date Cookies

I’m obsessed with dates lately. I’ve always liked them but my Fresh Market just started selling them in the bulk bins so I can get them super cheap now. So today I wanted to make oatmeal cookies but didn’t want to use the usual raisins. I went on a search for a fun recipe and found something with dates! So excited.

The original recipe called for chocolate but I was worried that would be way too sweet for me so I went ahead and left it out. Let me tell you, they don’t need the chocolate. Oh, and I was very excited because the recipe only calls for brown sugar and you know what that means! Soft cookies!

Oatmeal Date Cookies
adapted from Cooking Light

6  tablespoons  unsalted butter
3/4  cup  packed light brown sugar
1/3  cup  all-purpose flour
1/3  cup  whole-wheat flour
3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
1 1/2  cups  regular oats
1/2  teaspoon  salt
1  lightly beaten egg
1  teaspoon  vanilla extract
1  cup  chopped pitted dates

Preheat oven to 350º. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and add brown sugar. Stir until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking soda, oats, and salt. Combine the butter mixture with the dry ingredients, and add egg, vanilla, and chopped dates.  Spoon mixture by tablespoon-fulls out onto lightly greased (or silicone baking mat–covered) baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes, until tops are dry to the touch.

Black and White Cookies.

A few weeks ago I was talking to my friend Pam about Martha Stewart’s cookie book. Pam has it and loves it but I’m not a huge Martha fan so I was skeptical. I decided to try out a recipe from Martha’s website before buying the book.

(Please excuse the picture. I took it in my bed because that’s where I ate every single one of these cookies. I have no shame.)

I went with Martha’s black and white cookies because when I was pregnant and working at Starbucks I ate one of these everyday. My co-workers joked that they always knew when I was there because they would find the remains (the dark chocolate part. bleh) on the desk in the back. I just loved how soft they were with the hard white chocolate on top. Mmm.

These cookies were exactly like my beloved Starbucks cookies. Well I used milk chocolate instead of dark, but that only made them better. They were soft and lemony and perfect.

I still haven’t bought Martha’s book. It’s on my list right after about 30 other things. I definitely want to pick it up eventually. I’m officially sold on Martha.

Black and White Cookies
from Martha Stewart

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cake flour, not self-rising
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons light corn syrup, plus more if needed
1 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until smooth. Add milk, and whisk to combine. Whisk in melted butter and extracts. Add flour mixture, and stir to form a smooth dough. Cover, and chill for 1 hour.
2. Line baking pans with Silpat nonstick baking mats. Using a 2-ounce scoop, drop five cookies per pan, 3 inches apart. Bake until edges are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack set over parchment paper to cool.
3. In a small bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, 3 tablespoons hot water, and corn syrup. Whisk until smooth. Using a small offset spatula, ice half of each cookie. Return cookies to rack to drip, if necessary.
4. Add chocolate to remaining icing. Stir until smooth. Add additional corn syrup to thin to desired consistency, if necessary. Spread chocolate icing over second half of each cookie. Allow cookies to set, about 10 minutes.

Fig Bars.

Time to kick off the new blog and I’m going to do it with one of the best things ever.

Homemade fig bars. Like Fig Newtons but more addictive.

I go through phases where I am absolutely obsessed with Fig Newtons. I can’t walk out of a store without buying a box and then I usually shove the entire box in my face on the drive home. I just adore them. There’s something so great about the gooey fig “jam” with the little crunchy seeds all wrapped in a cakey crust. Mmm.

I bookmarked this recipe during my most recent Fig Newton phase which was only a few weeks ago but I’ve been having trouble finding figs around here. I managed to find some at Walgreens of all places recently so it was finally time to try the recipe.

These are nothing like Fig Newtons to me. They are every bit as good and maybe better, but they don’t have much in common. The outside had the texture of a sugar cookie instead of the soft exterior that Fig Newtons have. The filling is amazingly good! I had some leftover so the kid and I had it on english muffins for breakfast the next day. I fully intend on making a batch of the filling just to use as a spread.

I’m submitting this to Tasty Tools because this is the month of the MIGHTY BLENDER. I’d post a picture of my blender after the figs went through it but believe me, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Homemade Fig Bars

from The Boastful Baker

Filling:
1 cup finely chopped dried Black Mission figs
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup apple juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon grated orange zest

Cookie Dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1. Make the filling: Combine the figs, water, apple juice and sugar in a medium sauceapan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook at a bare simmer for 1-2 hours until the figs are so soft that they’re spreadable.

2. Transfer to a food processor or blender, add the orange zest and process until smooth. Remove from the food processor and allow to cool.

3. Make the dough: Cream together the butter, sugar and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl and paddle. Add the egg white and vanilla and beat in. Scrape down the bowl and paddle again. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

4. Place racks in middle and lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12 x 16 rectangle. Cut into 4 equal strips, each 12 x 4 inches. Spoon a line of filling down the center of each strip. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together. Place on the parchment-lined baking sheets, seam side down.

6. Using a serrated knife, slice each log on the diagonal into 10 cookies. Bake, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.