I love it when two completely different categories of sweet food items come together – cake batter ice cream, apple pie cookies, fudgy brownie cake – the list is truly endless.
So when I came across these sticky date cookies in my very reliable source of Woman’s Day, I was ecstatic. I love sticky date cake, especially the one from Gourmet Pizza Kitchen – You give me that cake, some caramel sauce and some vanilla ice cream and you will literally send me into a trance. You’ll send my brother out of this world, as seen by his love of the homemade sticky date pudding I made on his birthday last year 🙂
In order to make these cookies truly reminiscent of the traditional pudding cake, you do need the make the simple and delicious caramel icing – but of course, if you read my blog you would know, of my family’s ‘cut back sugar’ campaign so that did not happen 😦
What did happen though (after a LOT of adapting I have to add) was a deliciously soft and chewy cookie quite similar to the caramel drizzled one found at the Cookie Man in their indulgent range 🙂
It had a lot of deep and dark sweetness due to the brown sugar and golden syrup combination which matched the sweetness of the dates to perfection without overdoing it – team that with oats and melted butter and Voila! – You have a similar to Anzac Cookie style sticky date cake inside a cookie 🙂
The reason for my many adaptations were simple and necessary but did not lessen the cookie in any way I believe if not improved it 🙂
- I added 1 egg for 1/2 recipe (making whole recipes is quite rare) – the end batter was simply too dry to roll into balls and flatten so it definitely needed a binding agent – milk would not be a good option since its flavour does not work with sticky date
- I added 1 tsp vanilla essence for 1/2 the recipe though I might try 1/2 tsp coffee essence next time for extra flavour
- I increased the amount of golden syrup to 2 tbs for 1/2 the recipe since 1 tsp really didn’t give enough kick
Enjoy this delicious cake-turned-cookie dessert with a cup of coffee (or in my case hot chocolate) NOW 😀
Sticky Date Cookies
Adapted from Woman’s Day Magazine (sometime in 2011 – not sure exactly which month)
Makes: 20 – 24 (depending on size)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup pitted dates
- 150g butter
- 4 tbs golden syrup
- 1/2 tbs baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup flour (plain)
- 1 1/14 cup rolled oats
- 2/3 cup tightly packed light brown sugar (dark brown gets too rich even for me)
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
Caramel Icing
- 40g butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (light)
- 1 1/2 tbs full cream milk
- 2/3 cup icing sugar/mixture (if pure then sift)
Method
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Line two oven trays with baking paper
- Combine dates, butter and syrup in a medium saucepan. Heat together over medium heat until butter is boiling (I let mine become a little brown). Add in baking soda. Remove from heat.
- Once mixture is lukewarm, mix in eggs and essence until well combined.
- Place butter mixture in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth or very slightly chunky.
- Combine oats, sifted flour and sugar in a large bowl. Gently, pour in butter mixture while continually stirring.
- Mix until well combined. Roll together heaped tablespoons of cookie dough and place on baking trays, 5cm apart. Flatten to approximately 1 cm thickness
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden (mine were done in 15 so watch out)
- Cool on trays for 5-10 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack
- Box and store in an airtight container.
- Icing: Combine sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat and stir until mixed through and sugar has dissolved (approximately 2 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar. Wrap saucepan top in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes to thicken slightly. Pipe or drizzle using a small nozzle over cooled cookies.
anzac biscuits are my favourite! – and i can’t imagine a better combination!! i can’t wait to whip these up! thanks for the recipe 🙂
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Now I know what to do with the dates leftover from making granola.
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You definitely do 😉
Enjoy!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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These look great! I’ve never seen a cookie like this, I like how now I can eat sticky date pudding in a less messy, easily transportable way 🙂
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I definitely agree- these are so easy to carry 😉
Enjoy my friends!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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YUM! I love anzac cookies but this looks even better! The caramel frosting alone makes it a must!
Can’t wait to try them!
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I definitely agree with you – Anzac cookies have nothing on these 🙂
And I bet it would taste even better with some caramel frosting – enjoy 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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How did you know I love dates and I also am a lover of the sticky date pudding? These look yummy! 🙂
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Lucky guess 😉
Thanks so much!!!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Cookies with dates! That sounds good! I like sweet treats with dates 🙂
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Thank you 😀
And dates are one of the best natural sweeteners ever!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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These sound great – I love dates! Question from this American, though: what is “golden syrup”? Is that like agave/honey or would it be like dark corn syrup?
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Thanks my friend – and dates are awesome in dessert 😀
The American equivalent is corn syrup – I think you get both dark and light varieties of it, so using darker one will probably be a little more stronger in its flavour but it is up to you 🙂
Enjoy!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks! That’s what I was wondering =)
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My pleasure 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Mmm these sound amazing! I’m loving the caramel topping. Sticky anything sweet is delicious to me! I think I’m already obsessed with this sticky date cake you talk of and I’ve never tried it before, Yum!!
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Haha, thank you so much – I love sticky anything as well 😀
And if you like a sticky date cake, then I am just saying… my bro’s birthday is coming up soon… 😉
Enjoy!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Well, I think these look delicious. Dates are super sweet too. Can you tell me if I could use less sugar since dates are so sweet? Thanks!
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Thank you my friend – and I adore dates in dessert 😀
Um, these were not overly sweet with a brown sugar date combination, perhaps if you increase the date quantity to 1 cup, and make the brown sugar to 1/2? I wouldn’t suggest too much because initially they were quite normal, not overly sugary cookies 🙂
Hope this helps and enjoy!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Those look as yummy as all your recipes. 🙂
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Thank you very much my friend 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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