Sunday, January 27, 2013

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 .

10 comments:

Shereen said...

I would love to bake these beautiful looking dates rolls but I think I'll be the only one eating it.. sobs!!! You know the boys will not touch any with a ten foot pole!!!

Sarah said...

Beautiful. Nice change from the usual pineapple filling. Yes, good for Christmas too ..... 11 months to go.

Sokehah cheah said...

Yes, using dates is different from the norm. Looks good!

Simplyfood said...

These look delicious.

Medeja- CranberryJam said...

The filling sounds especially delicious! And they look really cute.

Fern @ To Food With Love said...

These date rolls are a great idea. They look yummy, reminds me of fig newtons :)

QembarDelites said...

These look so yummy, I think can keep better than pineapple cookies huh!

suituapui said...

You're getting ready for Chinese New Year? Celebrating full swing over there?

Lisa Ho said...

delicious... something different from the usual pineapple roll :D
I tried to make something out of norm too but that turned out to be a disaster, the strawberry jam oozed out from the roll... I ended up with a collapse tart and slightly burnt strawberry roll-ups :(

ICook4Fun said...

Shereen, dates are ok mah, Why lah they tak suka? Aiyoh, your two boys memang teruk lah.

Sarah, yes this cookie will be great for Christmas.

Cheah, thank you.

Nayna, thanks.

Medeja, thank you.

Fern, yes taste pretty similar but way less sweet :)

Jeannie, the filling of this is much dryer.

Suituapui, trying to get into the CNY mood but pretty difficult. Missing home and family a lot. Not much of a celebration here. It is just like any other day. Maybe we will go out for dinner.

Lisa, strawberry jam is too soft and won't be able to hold the pastry up. Maybe you can add some apple to the strawberry to give the jam more structure.