Great-Grandma’s Date Cookies
My grandpa loves snacky foods, so that’s what we usually get him for Christmas, his birthday, and Father’s Day. My mom was flustered this Christmas because she didn’t have a chance to make grandpa’s favorite cookies. When I asked what recipe that was she told me that his mother used to make him date cookies and she has that recipe. Guess what he’s getting for his birthday today? 
So, here’s the recipe for…
Great-Grandma’s Date Cookies
Cream:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix:
- 2-1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Add this mixture to the above mix
- It will now look like chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips!
Prepare dates:
- Place 1 cup chopped dates in a bowl
- Pour over 5 tablespoons boiling water
- Let sit for a couple minutes
- The dates will be much softer now
- Drain off any excess water
- Add to the above mix
Optional: Add in some nuts. Since my grandpa’s such a great guy and it’s his birthday, I added 1/2 cup chopped pecans. If I had it to do over again, I would have added 1 cup because they’re not very prominent in the finished cookies.
Bake:
- 350-degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown
- These are a softer cookie – not crunchy.
- I made mine a little big and it ended up yielding about 30 cookies
Note: I’ve had some blog issues the last few days and long story short, the photos will be posted as soon as I can figure out why they’re not posting! Got a few to post, but not all of them.
Thanks for visiting! If you’re interested in more recipes you can check out my food and recipes pages. If you want to know what I’ve been up to this week, visit my front page or subscribe via RSS!
I’m also participating in the following carnivals today! You can find many more fantastic recipes here:
- Homemaker Monday’s @ 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven
- Mouthwatering Monday’s @ A Southern Fairytale
- Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
- Make Your Monday @ Twice Remembered
- DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land
- Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
- Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace
- Tuesday’s at the Table @ All the Small Stuff
- Tackle it Tuesday @ 5 Minutes for Mom
- Works for Me Wednesday @ We Are THAT Family
- What’s Cooking Wednesdays @ Tales from the Fairy Blogmother
- What Did You Bake Today @ The Krazy Kitchen
- Friday Feasts @ Mom Trends
- Foodie Fridays @ Designs by Gollum
- Food on Fridays @ Ann Kroeker’s blog
- Finer Things Friday @ The Finer Things in Life
Related Posts
- Christmas Baking: Chocolate PB Cookies
- Christmas Dog Biscuits
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- 5 Minute Chocolate Cake
- Grandma’s Pistachio Bread Recipe
This sounds delicious – think I will try this some time. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Oh wow! Those sound great!! Maybe a nice change the next time my kids ask me to make cookies.
Those cookies look yummy! Thanks for linking your post to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
We are just now getting into dates, I’ll have to give these a try.
What a thoughtful gift!
I was thinking of Date Cookies this week although I haven’t made them in years. My mom always made Tomato Soup Cake and Date cookies at Christmas time. This week when I made Tomato Soup Cake, I had the overwhelming urge to make Date Cookies. I like them best with nuts too.
My mom LOVES date cookies! thank you!
Thanks for sharing. I love dates, and these sound like good cookies.
Happy Foodie Friday…
XO,
Sheila
I always think the old fashioned cookies are the best, and these really do sound yummy. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I really love these old recipe. Thanks so much for sharing it.
ButterYum
K,
Katie
Good for you for using butter! I just bought dates for the first time to make larabars. They’re not bad!
Thanks for lining up with Finer Things Friday!
Aww, so sweet for you to add grandpa’s picture enjoying them. I love dates, but I’m not sure better than choc. chips
.
Hi, this is a must try for me too. I like to be able to make better sweets someday.
[...] 1. Laura @ Frugal Follies (Jalapeno Poppers) 2. Kristen (sticky spicy biscuits) 3. Newlyweds (Chicken Corn Chowder) 4. Alison @ My Vintage Kitchen (roasted garlic and potato soup) 5. Dining With Debbie (chocolate pecan chocolate chunk pie) and a giveaway 6. Self Sagacity 7. Alison @ Under the big Oak Tree (food round up… links) 8. Prudent & Practical {Old Fashioned Date Cookies} [...]
yam ,sound delicious.never eat at malaysia….
I was reflecting on my sweet grandma and her yummy date cookies. She used to freeze them and then pull them out for us on a hot summer day for an afternoon snack. They were such a treat. I wanted to see if I could find a recipe and came upon your recipe. They’re in the oven and I can’t wait to taste them. Thank you for the recipe and for the sweet story about your Grandpa!
JOY!
gw