More Cookies

Ate way too much cookie dough today and got a BIG belly ache. Not a good idea to eat three cookies worth of raw dough after completely cleaning out your intestines. Hey, I was hungry after fasting for a day and a half! I am SO glad that procedure is over with. Drinking eight ounces of the worst tasting, weirdest mouth feel liquid every fifteen minutes for three hours is not my idea of fun. The good news is I will not have to do that for another ten years.

Cookie doughs are done. I made ten different types of cookies the last being orange poppy seed and good old chocolate chip, which I finished up this afternoon. David reminded me that I did not include a recipe for his favorite cookie, date nugget. So here it is:

Date Nuggets

This is another one of the cookies recipes I found in the 1983 Gourmet. Do you remember they use to give their ingredients in a paragraph instead of a list? Maybe they thought it saved room or looked cool. I am glad that Food and Wine does not do that!

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 2 sticks (one cup) butter, softened
• ¾ cup granulated sugar combined with ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• ½ cup pitted dates, chopped fine (it a bit easier if you freeze them a bit first)
• ½ cup pecans, toasted lightly and chopped fine
• About ½ cup confectioners’ sugar

Place the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and whisk until blended. In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter, add the granulated sugar mixture, a little at a time, beating then beat the mixture for 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla and add the flour mixture in 2 batches, blending the mixture at low speed until it is just combined. Stir in the dates and the pecans and chill the dough, covered, for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the confectioners’ sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll level teaspoons of dough into balls and place in the sugar; roll until covered in sugar. Arrange 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake them in the middle of the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are lightly golden around the edges. Transfer the cookies to racks and let cool completely before storing.