Each year during Janmashtami I put my culinary skills to maximum use for the celebrations. My son is doing a fantastic job of keeping me awake at night and this year I had the energy and time for just one treat. People, do send in your prayers for his sleep cycle to change.

Since I love fruit and nut combinations and especially a cake made with date and walnuts, I wondered if the same combination could be used to make cookies. A Google search revealed that there were many others who had already thought on similar lines and I was quite surprised to find many recipes for date and walnut cookies. This one caught my fancy and I made a few variations to make my version of date and walnut cookies.

A great afternoon snack packed with the goodness of whole ingredients, I’m thrilled to have this recipe in my kitty. I would any day munch into a cookie made at home than dig into something that is store bought and factory manufactured stuffed with energy depriving emulsifiers and preservatives.

Everyone who tasted this cookie absolutely adored them and these cookies have won me rave reviews. Mellow, soft, sweet and nutrient dense dates with crunchy, health friendly walnuts find residence amidst whole wheat goodness in this recipe. If these make way into your cookie jar,  its quite nice to satisfy those mini hunger pangs that haunt most of us in-between large meals. This would also look nice and healthy in a child’s tiffin box.

Date and Walnut Cookies Recipe

The butter can be substituted with vegan butter for a vegan version!

Ingredients:

225 gm (8 oz) whole wheat flour

200 gm (1 cup) dates, chopped

100 gm (1 cup) walnuts, chopped

200 gm (2 sticks) butter, melted

100 gm (3/4 cup) fine sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Method:

Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda together once. Mix in the chopped dates and walnuts. Stir in the sugar into the melted butter when the butter is hot.

After the butter reaches room temperature or cools down, stir in the flour mixture. Mix the ingredients together until well combined.

Make balls with your hands and flatten the balls with your palm. Alternatively use a cookie cutter to get even sized cookies.

Bake at 180 degree centigrade (350 degree F or gas mark 4) for about 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 25 cookies