Using dates as a filling is quite famous in the Middle Eastern cuisine. To be honest, it is my favorite kind of filling. It is naturally sweetened and with the right kind of spices it takes your palate to a new different level. Getting cookies or sweet pastries that are filled with dates is the best and most common thing you can get from your local bakery in the Middle East.

So I wanted to work on my own version of these kind of cookies. So I decided to start tweaking another dough recipe that I worked before with. I chose to work with beigli which is the Hungarian walnuts roulade which I shared on this blog before. You can find the recipe here.

Of course I had to tweak it and add my Middle Eastern touch to it and thus created these super easy, soft and chewy dates stick cookies. They are perfect for your tea time as they are light, not overly sweet and easy to eat with your fingers.

You can watch the video with English detailed instructions here:

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 cups flour
• 100 grams of cold butter cut into 1 cm cubes
• 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
• 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds powder
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds powder

Filling:

• 250 gram dates paste “check tips”
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds powder
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds powder
• 1/2 teaspoon star anise powder

For the glaze:

• 1 large egg, its yolk and white separated

Tips:

•  Make sure that the butter is cold
• Make sure to knead the dough long enough between 7 – 10 minutes.
• Lightly beat the egg yolk and the egg white separately before brushing each to the roulades’ surface.
• After rolling the dough into a rope you can further stretch it until you get the thickness you prefer.
• When glazing, you start with the egg yolk and let the dough rest and the glaze dry before glazing again with the egg white before baking. This will create the tiger like golden finish to your cookies.
• Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 C in a normal oven and 160 C in a fan forced oven.
• Make sure that the cookies has completely cooled before storing in an airtight container.

I used almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts and pistachios. And I’ve used dates, dried apricots, sultanas and raisins roughly chopped. And for spices I used cinnamon, caraway seeds and cloves all grounded.

This bread is very moist. You can have it for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. It is just perfect.
To know how to make it please watch the video:

Ingredients:

medium sized pumpkin to get 1 cup of cooked pumpkin

• 1 3/4 cups A/P flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mixed nuts roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup mixed dried fruits roughly chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds grounded
• 1/8 tsp cloves grounded
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For garnish “optional”

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 3 tbsp milk or as needed
• pappita seeds.

Tips:

• Cook pumpkin in a  preheated oven at 180 C for 45 – 60 mins or until it is cooked.
• We only need 1 cup of the pumpkin. The rest can be kept in the freezer for future recipes.
• You can use canned cooked pumpkin. But the fresh option is a better option.
• You can use which ever nuts, dried fruits or spices you like.
• Bake the bread in a preheated oven at 180 C for 3-45 mins or until it is done.
• Leave the bread to cool before icing it.
• Add the milk gradually to the icing sugar to get the right consistency.
• You can garnish the bread as you wish.

You can bake those during Ramadan and have them as a light snack.

To know how to make these bagels please watch the video:

Ingredients:

• 500 grams AP flour
• 200 ml lukewarm milk
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 60 grams melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp instant dried yeast
• 1 tsp ground aniseeds
• 300 grams dates paste
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground aniseeds
• 1 tsp ground fennel seeds

Tips:

• Dates paste can be purchased ready at Middle Eastern stores or you can make your own at home by deseeding dates and then ground them in a food process.
• You can replace olive oil with any other oil or even melted butter or ghee.
• When kneading the dough make sure to do that for 10-15 mins. You want the dough to become elastic and smooth.
• Leave the dough to rise in a warm place until it doubles in size between 1-2 hours.
• Make sure you oil the surface and the rolling pin before working with the dough so as it won’t stick.
• You make the bagels as shown int he video and making sure that the ring is wide enough as it will still rise and close down a bit.
• Leave the bagels to rest for 1 hour.
• Brush the surface of bagels with milk or egg wash if you want a shinier finish.
• Bake the bagels in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 mins or until golden.