Walnut Date with Honey Orange Glaze Cookies - Revised

This cookie I created about three years ago. I needed new photos, so I wanted to add a few things to the cookies to see if I could improve the taste, and I think I did a bang-up job.

The all-time favorite is walnuts when searching for a nut to go with dates. Maple syrup is just sticky enough to bind the two ingredients for the filling plus is a sweet additive.

Of course, I need a citrus flavor that will bring out the taste of the walnut date filling, and I thought orange would be the best.

Ingredients

COOKIE DOUGH

• All-purpose flour
• Sugar white
• Butter unsalted
• Cream Cheese
• Kosher Salt

COOKIE FILLING

• Walnuts
• Dates
• Maple syrup

HONEY ORANGE GLAZE

• Powdered sugar
• Orange juice fresh
• Honey
• Orange zest

Dates - To make my life easier, I purchase pitted dates. The great thing about pitted dates is that you can throw them into the food processor to dice them up into small pieces.

Maple syrup - Ingredients do make the cookie as they say. One thing I do not skimp on is quality. Even if I have to spend a little more on ingredients, it is worth it. The maple syrup I used for this cookie was Escuminac Extra Rare.

The maple syrup is from Quebec and is bottled by the maker. You can purchase from Amazon, but their price is a little higher. Escuminac offers a gift set of three bottles which includes the Extra Rare. But you need to catch it at the time of year that it is available. But you can put your email address for notification when they are available.

Honey - So many different kinds of honey out there, but I just use whatever I have handy in my pantry.

Steps For Making Walnut Date Cookies

This cookie has three steps; make the filling, make the cookie dough, assemble the cookie then bake. I made these cookies in one afternoon so don't be afraid to make them, thinking it will take a long time.

Walnuts and Dates

Besides my Kitchen Aid mixer, the second small appliance I use is my Breville food processor. This machine has done almost everything I have asked it to do, but a favorite feature is the smaller inner bowl. It is perfect for dicing the walnuts and date with maple syrup.

Add the dates, walnuts, and maple syrup to a food processor and pulse until the dates and walnuts are finely diced.

Empty the date walnut mixture into a bowl and set it aside.

If the walnut-date-maple syrup mixture is still a little dry, you can add a little more maple syrup.

Mixing the Cookie Dough

Weigh the flour and add the salt. Run a whisk through to blend and set the bowl aside.

Add to a mixer bowl the butter and cream cheese. Mix on a medium-low setting speed until the butter and cream cheese are blended. Now with the mixer still running, add the sugar and turn the mixer to medium speed for about three minutes.

You should get a fluffy combination. Scrape the bowl sides, turn the mixer to a low speed, and gradually add the flour mixture. Don't overmix. You can always blend in any loose pieces of flour with a spatula. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

Cookie Scoop Sizes

There are three popular sizes for cookie scoopers small, medium, and large. At least when you go to the store or buy online, they are marketed as one of these three sizes. If you search for cookie scoopers at someplace like Webstaurantstore.com, they go by #and a number. The larger the number, the smaller the bowl.

So there are ranges of sizes for small and the same thing for the medium and large. I have a large, medium, and small. I only need one for each category.

In the image with the tape measure, all three cookie dough balls are the same medium size. The medium size is what I decided to use for these cookies. The tape shows the width to be about 1 ½" after you make the scoop into a ball.

Assembling Walnut Date Cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) and place parchment paper on a cookie sheet pan. I get two pans ready, so I can work on the second cookie batch when one is in the oven.

Use a medium cookie scooper and make a ball from the scooped cookie dough. I put 12 on a sheet pan, giving plenty of room to expand while baking.

Take your thumb and go straight down through the middle of the cookie dough ball. Your thumb does not make a big enough well for the filling, so stretch the hole out, careful not to tear the cookie dough.

Use a spoon to add some of the walnut-date mixture and fill the hole. Don't have it sticking up much past the top of the well. It does expand some during baking.

After assembling the cookies, I stick the whole pan into the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. The cookie dough gets warm from handling each ball, so this will give it a chill before baking.

Bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 14-16 minutes. After pulling the cookies from the oven leave them on the sheet pan for 2 to 3 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Making Honey Orange Glaze

While the cookies are cooling, add to a mixing bowl the powdered sugar, orange juice, orange zest, and honey, whisking until blended.

I get this nice golden brown color for the bottom of my cookies. After the cookies cool, I line them up on the cooling rack so I can add the orange honey glaze.

I take a spoon and go back and forth over the top of each cookie. The orange zest shows so nicely against the cookie and filling. But most of all this fresh orange flavor gives a fantastic taste to the finished cookie.