1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ cups rolled oats (I use quick oats)
Date Filling – recipe follows
Preheat oven to 350 F.
With electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in egg. Add vanilla and salt. On low speed, mix in ½ of the flour, then the baking powder, then the rest of the flour blending well after addition. Mix in oats just until well mixed.
Use a shiny cookie sheet – depending on your cookie sheet you may or may not need to grease the pan lightly. Do one “test” cookie if not sure.
Roll dough into approximately 1” balls and place at least 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Using a glass custard cup or flat bottomed drinking glass which has been dipped in flour, press the cookies flat to about 1/8” inch thickness. Bake at 350 F for 9 – 11 minutes until just beginning to brown around the edges. Let cool on cookies sheet for 2 – 3 minutes then remove to a rack to cool completely.
For crispy cookies, fill with the date filling immediately before eating. For softer cookies, fill the cookies at least an hour before eating. These will get quite soft if left longer.
NOTE: If you wish to make these cookies smaller, reduce the oven to 325 F for more even browning.
Date Filling:
1 ½ cups chopped dates
1 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
Optional: 1 – 2 tbsp. lemon or orange juice
Place chopped dates, water, and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until dates are completely softened and mixture is thick – 15 to 20 minutes. If heat is too high the water will evaporate instead of softening the dates – simply add more water as needed. If desired, add lemon or orange juice 1 tablespoon at a time, tasting after each addition until as you like it. Cook a minute or two longer if necessary to thicken – the mixture will also thicken as it cools.. Cool completely before filling cookies.