Date Pinwheel Cookies

During the holidays, there’s no shortage of recipes to bake for your Christmas cookie tray. But we must say, these date pinwheel cookies might just be the prettiest of them all. This recipe starts with a simple cookie dough that gets rolled up with a sweet, sticky, pecan-studded date filling. Once cut and baked, you’re left with delicious and festive pinwheel-shaped cookies.

Date Pinwheel Cookie Ingredients

• Butter: Take your butter out of the fridge 30 minutes before starting this recipe. If you forget, here’s how to soften butter quickly.
• Brown sugar: We specifically call for brown sugar, as the deep caramel-molasses flavor pairs well with the dates and pecans. Also, brown sugar’s color adds a nice tan hue to the dough.
• Eggs: You’ll need three large eggs to bind the dough for these date nut pinwheel cookies.
• Vanilla extract: A small hint of vanilla extract sweetens the dough without having to add any extra sugar.
• All-purpose flour: We love using all-purpose flour for cookie recipes. It yields the best cookie texture. Make sure you have 4 cups all-purpose flour on hand for this recipe—that’s a lot more flour than a baking recipe usually calls for!
• Baking soda: A 1/2 teaspoon baking soda is all you need to give the cookie dough a slight rise.
• Dates: Never baked with dates before? They look like giant, plump raisins and have a chewy texture and sweet flavor. Dates are so versatile to cook and bake with—check out some of our favorite recipes with dates.
• Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the date nut pinwheel cookie filling.
• Pecans: Finely chop the pecans so there aren’t large chunks of pecans falling out of the cookie’s filling.

Directions

Step 1: Make the dough

In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream together the butter and brown sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt and baking soda. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat well.

Divide the dough into four portions. Wrap each portion in storage wrap and refrigerate until chilled.

Step 2: Cook the filling

In a large saucepan, bring the dates, sugar and water to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is thickened, about 15 minutes. Cool the filling to room temperature, then stir in the pecans.

Step 3: Roll out the dough

On a baking sheet, roll out each portion of dough separately between two sheets of waxed paper. Each dough portion should be rolled out into a 12×9-inch rectangle. Refrigerate the rolled-out doughs for 30 minutes.

Step 4: Add the filling and roll up

Working with one rolled-out portion at a time. Remove the waxed paper, and spread the date mixture on top. Tightly roll up each portion jelly-roll style, starting with one of the long sides and rolling the dough into a spiral. Wrap each rolled portion in storage wrap, and refrigerate the rolls until they’re firm, about two hours.

Step 5: Bake the cookies

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Unwrap one roll at a time and, with a sharp chef’s knife, cut each roll into 1/4-inch slices. Make each cut one clean slice. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake until the cookies are set, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool at room temperature. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. You could also freeze them for up to three months.

Taste Recipes

Recipe Variations

• Finish with a glaze: Add a bit more sweetness and a gorgeous decoration on top of these pinwheels with a lovely glaze. Whip up the glaze from these apricot pinwheels, transfer it to a resealable bag or pastry bag, snip a small hole at the tip of the bag and decorate the cookies with the glaze.
• Use a different fruit filling: Not a date person? We have tons of different fruit fillings to use here instead; try our raspberry nut pinwheels, pecan-studded apricot pinwheels or our wintery cranberry nut swirls.
• Try a chocolate filling: If you’re more of a chocolate person, omit the filling from these date nut pinwheel cookies and instead use the filling from our basic chocolate pinwheel cookies or from our pinwheel cookies with chocolate and cream cheese.

How to Store Date Pinwheel Cookies

Once the date nut pinwheel cookies are cooled to room temperature, lay them in an airtight container or in a proper cookie storage container. Place sheets of parchment or waxed paper between each layer to prevent the cookies from sticking and to keep their pretty pinwheel shape. They can last at room temperature for up to three days.

Date Pinwheel Cookie Tips

Taste Recipes

Why is the dough so sticky?

Your dough might be sticky for a few reasons. The most common reason is from not splitting the dough into four portions once it’s made. This step must not be skipped. Splitting the dough into four portions allows the dough to chill thoroughly in the fridge.

Also, do not skip the three different chilling steps. This helps cool down the dough so it’s easier to work with and so it’s easier to cut the cookies into perfect pinwheel circles.

Another reason for stickiness may be if the dough doesn’t have enough flour. It’s important to know how to measure flour correctly so you’re not using too little (or too much).

How do you remove the pits from dates?

Before pitting a date, cut off the top brown cap if there still is one attached. To pit the date, pierce the top of the date 1/8 to 1/4 inch into the flesh and cut downward lengthwise. Open the date, and you should see a brown, cylindrical pit. Remove the pit and chop up the date for this recipe.