Date Rolls

I have a lot of dates left from my Christmas baking and I wanted to use it all up for my Chinese New Year baking. I can’t keep the dates for too long as it tends to get dry real fast so I decided to blend it all up in a food processor and used it as the filling of these rolls. It turns out really good and it will be on the bake list for my next Christmas baking.

 

Ingredients for the filling:

600 gram dates – I used Medjool dates
¼ cup sesame seeds – toasted
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp soft butter
½ tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp orange zest
3 tbsp orange juice

 

1. Removed the seeds of the dates and chopped it up roughly. Put it into the food processor with sugar, butter, cinnamon powder, orange zest and the juice.
2. Blend it into paste. Take it out of the food processor and add in the toasted sesame seeds. Mix well and set it in the fridge. In the meantime prepare the pastry.

Ingredients for the pastry:

300 gram butter – room temperature
80 gram powder sugar
450 gram flour
60 gram milk powder
1 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 tsp pure vanilla extracts
2-3 tbsp cold water – if needed
1 egg – beaten for egg wash

1. Sift flour, powdered milk, salt and set it aside. In a mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar. Cream till light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes, over high speed. Add egg yolk, one at a time. Add in the vanilla and beat well.
2. Add flour mixture into the bowl and beat over low speed until dough comes together. At this stage if the dough is too dry you can add a bit of cold water. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. In the meantime, Line 2 baking sheet with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F. 4. Roll the date filling into a long log. About ½” diameter (depend on how big you want the roll to be)

5. Roll out the dough. Work with small badge of dough at a time. Roll dough out thinly (less than ¼”) place the date roll on top of the dough. Roll the dough to cover up the filling completely.
6. Use a pair of scissors to cut them up into 1 ¼” length. Arrange the rolls on the baking sheet. Brush the rolls with egg wash.
7. Bake till golden, 20-25 minutes. Let cool and store in airtight containers

I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover .