Old Fashioned Date Cookies

These old fashioned Date Cookies are from a simpler time - Real food, store cupboard ingredients, and a cookie that's just like the ones I had as a kid. After school snacks, lunchbox fillers, a break-time energy boost or with a cup of tea, Date cookies are a pretty awesome snack.

Old Fashioned Date Cookies

My family love biscuits. Really love them. We used to have a full cookie jar, well, most of the time. The kids dipped in and out, as I did, and not a huge amount of attention was paid to what was in them. They're only little I'd tell myself, how much harm can one little biscuit do, right?

Honestly, one biscuit's not likely to do a huge amount of damage, but I was missing a trick. I was totally overlooking the fact that biscuits, like lots of other snacks, are a brilliant opportunity to get some added goodness into the kids.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a second these can replace all food stuffs for the rest of days, but the fact is, we're going to eat snacks. And if they're going to eat them anyway, I'm going to make sure they're as good as they can be. Two of my kids are natural grazers and like to pick. I like to pick. So having something that's Clean and natural means I stress less about the snacks we keep in the house.

Natural Sweeteners

Being the sort of family that refuses to quit sugar while still eating good Real food, I use natural sweeteners when I bake. That's maple syrup, honey, and if you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know I'm extremely fond of dates :)

I try not to use them in everything, but I use them in baking and cooking alike. The sweetness they provide isn't as sweet as refined white sugar if that's what your kids are used to, but I promise you, after a while of Clean eating, your kids taste buds will adapt to the more natural sweeteners we use and they'll find the sweetness!

You can chop dates really small to add to cooking, or baking, but I often use this Date paste in baking. If you've not ever used or even tried date paste, it's one of the most delicious, sweet, moorish parts of a Clean eating diet. You can use it to replace the refined sugars in most recipes, it takes a few minutes to make and you can keep it in the fridge for quite a while to use as needed.

What's Good About These Cookies?

These are a little crisp on the outside without being tough, cookie doughy on the inside, and sweet. They're great for little kids because they're softer than many cookies so tinies can bite into them easily.

And..because I'm a Mom and we think about these things, they're not super crumbly, so the biscuit crumbs you'll be cleaning up is minimal. Yay :)

How Long Do These Cookies Last?

Once these cookies have cooled, they'll last for up to 3 days in an airtight container, or a well sealed cookie jar. This recipe makes 12 cookies so it's not a huge batch, but I have made these in double and even triple quantities before and frozen the extra dough until I need it.

If you want to freeze the dough, make the recipe right up until you split it into cookie balls. Instead, make one bigger cookie dough ball, warp it in food wrap and store it in the freezer for up to a month. To defrost, leave it on the work surface until it's fully defrosted and then pick the recipe up where you left off.

More Healthy Biscuit Recipes

• Healthy biscuits for kids
• Date and nut cookies
• Coconut and oat cookies
• Cranberry cookies
• Ginger cookies

How To Make Date Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Flour Buckwheat, Einkorn
• ⅓ Cup Dates Stoned, made into a paste
• ⅓ Cup Butter Softened
• 1½ tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla paste
• 2 tbsp Maple syrup

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 180°
• Make your date paste. Take the dates and cover with boiling water, just enough to cover the dates. Leave for 10 minutes until the dates are soft and then drain into a bowl, keeping the water. Using a blender, blend the dates adding in 1tbsp of the water at a time until you have a thick, smooth date paste
• Beat the butter and maple syrup and vanilla paste until well combined
• Add in the date paste and combine
• Add the flour and baking powder and combine to form a dough
• Divide the dough into 12 balls and place on a tray. With the back of a spoon, gently push the cookies down until they're a little flatter, don't push too much, or they won't be cookie doughy in the middle! Put the tray in the fridge for 20 minutes to let the cookie dough chill
• Put the cookies straight from the fridge into the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the outside is golden
• Let cool and enjoy :)

Old Fashioned Date Cookies Recipe

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