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