GOBBLE, GOBBLE! We, the staff at the Farmstand @ Agritopia, want to wish you all a very joyful Thanksgiving. We hope that you will consider using some of our marvelous Agritopia Medjool dates in many of the dishes that you will be baking for the holidays. Our Agritopia Medjool dates are grown right here on the farm. They are pesticide free and synthetic fertilizer free, so that makes them 100% delicious and nutritious for you! We have our Medjool dates available at our self-serve farmstand for $6.00 per lb.
To help with your holiday baking, I am including some tried and true recipes from one of the great cooks here in Agritopia, Mrs. Virginia Johnston.
Agritopia Medjool Date Bread
by Grandma Ruth Johnston (Jim Johnston’s mother)
1 cup Agritopia Medjool dates – pitted & chopped
¾ cup nuts
1 cup boiling water
1 ½ tsp baking soda
* Mix lightly & cool
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp butter
* Beat together
Add 1 ½ cup flour to mixture
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in bread mix.
Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees
Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookie with Agritopia Medjool Dates & Nuts
(My personal favorite!)
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg or 2 egg yolks, well beaten
1 tbsp cream or milk
½ tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup Medjool dates – pitted and chopped
½ cup English walnuts
Cream butter. Beat in sugar, egg, cream or milk, and vanilla. Add flour, salt, and baking powder sifted together. Mix well. Fold in the Medjool dates (gently) and English walnuts. Arrange by teaspoon on buttered cookie sheet, 1 inch apart.
Optional: to emphasize the butter flavor, brush the cookies lightly with melted butter while they are warm.
Agritopia Medjool Date Pinwheels
Adapted from Neta Given’s Cookbook 1959
Cookie Dough: Date Filling:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour ½ whole fresh dates
¼ tsp. baking soda 1/3 cup water
½ tsp. salt, scant ¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, packed ½ cup fine-cut nuts
½ cup butter or margarine 2 tsp. lemon juice
¼ cup granulated sugar ½ tsp. lemon rind
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla
Grease baking sheets. Start oven 10 min. before baking; set to 400 degrees.
Dough: Sift flour, measure and re-sift 3 times with soda and salt. Put moist brown sugar through coarse sieve. Cream soft butter until shiny, add sugars and cream well. Beat in egg until fluffy, stir in vanilla, then flour and mix until smooth. Cover and place dough in refrigerator while preparing filling.
Filling: Pit whole dates, and cut, dropping into a 1-qt. saucepan. Add water and sugar, place over moderate heat; cook and stir to a medium-thick paste, approx. 3 – 4 minutes. Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm, then stir in nuts, lemon juice and rind.
Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll cookie dough into a 10x14 inch rectangle. Now spread date filling carefully over dough in a uniformly thick layer. Begin at narrow end and roll up like a jellyroll, using cloth to facilitate rolling. Now wrap roll in waxed paper, then in thin cardboard and fasten with rubber bands and chill in the refrigerator until very firm. Remove to cutting board, remove paper, and with a sharp knife, cut into slices about 3/16-inch thick. Place about 1-inch apart on prepared sheets. Bake about 7 minutes or until a golden brown – do not over bake. Remove to cake rack to cool on baking sheets about a minute, and then remove to rack. Makes 3 dozen
