Ginger, Orange And Date Cookies

I have been lazy.. ..plain lazy. I have all these posts in my head and that's just where they stay. All December I've been seeing these posts counting down to Christmas and told myself I have enough time to do all the posts I wanted to. And here I am two days before Christmas, scouring cookery books and websites for an apt Christmas dessert. We may not celebrate Christmas at home but it's always an occasion to take out the pretty plates and twinkly lights and raise a toast to the good times!

So, while I search for my Christmas dessert for the year, I made some cookies. Mama hinted two week back how she wouldn't mind if I baked her a batch of cookies to go with her tea. Of course, I procrastinated and finally with the Christmas inspiration all round, these cookies were thought of and baked this afternoon.

These are simple eggless cookies infused with the flavours of the season. I like the fact that the recipes uses fresh ginger as opposed to ground ginger. When they first came out of the oven, they looked so nondescript that I wondered how I could jazz them up. But, taste them and you realise that these cookies need no help. 

You will taste the ginger and the orange, and neither are overpowering. With the first bite, you might wonder if these cookies need a bit more sugar but once you encounter the dates, it all makes sense.

These are not fancy show-off cookies. These are regular cookies to go with your daily cuppa. And it helps that they hardly take any time to put together. Although, when you buy the dates, buy the pitted ones, something I clearly did not check while buying them myself!

I think I have narrowed down my dessert for Christmas and hopefully I can get it done in time, with a post to show for it. But, knowing my track record with this blog this year, I won't say much till I get the post done, for sure. So, fingers crossed!

But, what about everyone else? Anyone hosting a Christmas dinner or baking something special or any other special plans for the weekend? I'd love to hear about itl!

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Ginger, Orange and Date Cookies

Makes 12 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup demerara/light brown muscovado sugar
• 25 gms fresh ginger root, grated
• Finely grated zest of one orange
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 100 gms dried pitted dates, finely chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons milk

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease and line a large baking sheet. Put the butter in a bowl with the sugar, ginger and orange zest and beat well until combined.
• Add the flour, baking powder and dates and using you hands, bring together. The mixture will feel dry. Add 2 tablespoons of milk to the mixture to make a firm, slightly sticky dough. If it still not coming together, add half a tablespoon of milk till the dough comes together.
• Divide the mixture into 12 balls, flatten each one slightly and place on the lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 10–12 minutes until risen and pale golden. The cookies will still feel soft but will firm up on cooling. Leave on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.