Date rolls are a classic East Indian sweet prepared popularly during Christmas. These dainty and delicious date roll cookies are made by wrapping dates stuffed with walnuts in a buttery pastry and baked to golden perfection!
These date rolls are yet another classic Indian Christmas sweet, that is not only made by the East Indian community, but is quite popular amongst most Goan and Mangalorean households as well.
Date roll cookies often make an appearance on ‘kuswar‘ (traditional Goan Christmas platter) to be shared with friends, family, and distributed amongst neighbors.
My aunt Carol prepares these delicious cookies every Christmas, and she was more than happy to share the recipe with me. I’ve been meaning to share this old-fashioned date roll recipe for Christmas all these years now but never got around to making them.
Honestly, I have never made them before. This time I tried a small batch at home and was very pleased with the way they turned out. So I decided to share it on the blog. Well better late than never, right?
I have already shared most of the traditional Goan Christmas sweets on the blog already. I will link them up in the post below.
Table of Contents
Ingredients needed
To make these traditional East Indian style date rolls, you will need,
Butter: I’ve used salted butter for this recipe. If using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt.
Icing sugar: Also known as powdered sugar or Confectioner’s sugar, different names for the same thing.
Egg: You will need two eggs, one whole egg for the pastry dough, and just the yolk of the other egg to brush the pastry.
All-purpose flour: Use plain flour and not self-rising flour as we don’t need the leavening agents i.e. baking powder or soda for this recipe.
Dates: Use a soft variety of dates for this recipe. Medjool dates would be great here, I’ve used Omani dates which also work very well. The hard ones can dry out even more in the oven, so avoid using those.
Walnuts: Walnuts are used for stuffing the dates before wrapping them in the pastry dough. Cut the walnut into halves and stuff one half in each date.
Why you will love these date rolls?
✓ These date nut rolls are;
✓ Very addictive
✓ Easy to make
✓ A great activity to get your kids involved in helping out during the festivities
✓ Perfect for gifting friends and family
How to make date rolls for Christmas- Step by step process
Step 1: Prepare the pastry
In a large mixing bowl, add 100 grams salted butter and 75 grams icing sugar. Beat on low speed until the sugar has incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat till the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice. (Photos 1 to 5)
Next, add one egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, continue beating at medium-high speed until well incorporated. (Photos 6 to 9)
Add 250 grams all-purpose flour (sifted) in 2 batches, beating on low speed with each addition until the dough looks crumbly. (Photos 10 to 14)
Using your fingers, bring the mixture together. (Photo 15)
Divide the dough into two parts. Shape each half roughly into a square. Flatten it out a bit, wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. (Photos 16 and 17)
Step 2: Stuff the pitted dates
Cut about 20 walnuts in halves. Insert half a walnut in the center of the date. Repeat with the rest of the dates and walnut halves. (Photos 18 to 21)
Step 3: Prepare the date rolls
Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C for 15 minutes. Work with a portion of the dough. On a clean work surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch in thickness.
If you find that the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, cover it with another parchment paper and continue rolling. (Photos 22 to 25)
Trim off the edges. Cut into 1.5-inch strips, or as per the size of the dates. (Photos 26 to 28)
Place a date on one edge of the strip, roll until it is completely wrapped in the dough and has a slight overlap. Cut off the strip, and gently press to seal the roll. (Photos 29 to 33)
Repeat the same process with the rest of the dough and the dough scraps. (Photos 34 to 37)
Step 4: Bake
Place it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
Add an egg yolk to a bowl. Add two teaspoons of water, whisk it together.
Brush each roll with egg wash. This is optional, but it adds a lovely golden brown color to the crust. Bake at 350° F/180° C for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. (Photos 39 to 41)
Baking time will depend upon the thickness of the dough.
Step 5: Cool and serve
Allow the date rolls to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack, let them cool down completely. (Photos 43 and 44)
Storage
Date rolls will keep well in an airtight container, at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe tips
This recipe is pretty easy and difficult to mess up. Nonetheless, I have four simple tips to share with you.
Make-ahead: You can make the dough three to five days in advance. Make sure you wrap it very well in a clingfilm and place it in an airtight container. Bring it to room temperature when you are ready to make the date rolls.
Avoid over kneading or overmixing the dough: Overkneading will develop gluten in the flour. That will make the rolls tough instead of a light and crumbly, shortbread-like texture. All you need to do is just bring the dough together.
Chill the dough: The dough is pretty soft and needs to be refrigerated for a little while. The dough will be a lot easier to work with. Also, since the butter is slightly cold, the cookies won’t spread as much in the oven.
Allow the rolls to cool completely: The date pastry rolls will crisp up once they have cooled completely. Avoid storing warm date rolls in a jar or container as they will cause them to steam inside the jar, which in turn will make the rolls soggy and soft. Always store any sort of cookies once they have come to room temperature.
Variations
- Different nuts: Feel free to use other nuts like cashew nuts, pecans, almonds, macadamia, Brazil nuts, etc instead of walnuts. I personally love the classic pairing of date and walnuts!
- Date and nut paste: Add the nuts to a food processor, and pulse to break them down. Then add the pitted dates and process until the mixture comes together. Roll the date-nut paste into a log. Cut as per the size of the pastry. Use that for the stuffing instead of a whole date.
- Coconut: Add some desiccated coconut to the above date-nut mixture for another delicious variation.
- Flavors: You can add some pumpkin pie spice mix, all-spice etc, to the date-nut mixture. If you are not making the date-nut log, then you can flavor the pastry dough with a hint of these spices.
- Chocolate: For a gourmet touch, you can drizzle some melted chocolate over the rolls.
More traditional Christmas sweets to include in your ‘kuswar’
- Marzipan (no-cook/egg-free)
- Bebinca
- Guava cheese
- Milk Cream
- Coconut Toffee
- Baath cake
- Doce de grao (chana dal fudge)
- Karanji/Neureos
- Kormolas
- Shankapali
- No-cook coconut ice
- Rich fruit cake
- Walnut fudge
- Kalkal
★ Did you enjoy this easy date roll recipe? If you happen to try it out, I would love to hear from you! I’d appreciate it if you could rate and leave a review below in the comments. Your reviews help others know the recipe better too. Thanks so much 🙂
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Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Have a lovely time <3
Date Rolls | Date Roll Cookies
Ingredients
- 100 grams salted butter
- 75 grams icing sugar sifted
- 1 large egg 65 g
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 250 grams all-purpose flour sifted
- 40 dates, pitted
- 20 whole walnut kernels
Egg wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons water or milk
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the butter and icing sugar. Beat on low speed until the sugar has incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat till the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice.
- Next, add in the egg and vanilla extract, continue beating at medium-high speed until well incorporated.
- Add flour (sifted) in 2 batches, beating on low speed with each addition until the dough looks crumbly.
- Using your fingers, bring the mixture together.
- Divide the dough into two parts. Shape each half roughly into a square. Flatten it out a bit, wrap it in cling film. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Cut the walnuts in halves. Insert half a walnut in the center of the date. Repeat with the rest of the dates and walnut halves.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C for 15 minutes. Work with a portion of the dough. On a clean work surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch in thickness.
- If you find that the dough is sticking to the rolling pin, cover it with another parchment paper and continue rolling.
- Trim off the edges. Cut into 1.5-inch strips, or as per the size of the dates.
- Place a date on one edge of the strip, roll until it is completely wrapped in the dough and has a slight overlap. Cut off the strip, and gently press to seal the roll.
- Repeat the same process with the rest of the dough and the dough scraps.
- Place it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
- Add an egg yolk to a bowl. Add two teaspoons of water, whisk it together.
- Brush each roll with egg wash. This is optional, but it adds a lovely golden brown color to the crust. Bake at 350° F/180° C for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Baking time will depend upon the thickness of the dough.
- Allow the date rolls to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack, let them cool down completely.
Video
Notes
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Mmmm. Dates are divine. 😍🍃
Yes, absolutely 😀🙌🏻