Date roll cookies are a traditional sweet of Israel. They are usually made with white flour and butter or margarine. We created a healthier variation with whole wheat flour, olive oil and Tahini.

Preparation

1. If you haven’t done it so far, soak the pitted dates in 150 g of warm water for about an hour.
2. Place the dry dough ingredients in a bowl and mix them together with a spoon.
3. Add olive oil, Tahini and 150 g of water to the dry ingredients, and mix with a spoon, add the rest of the water (50 g) and continue mixing with a spoon and then by hand until obtaining a uniform dough.
4. Let the dough rest covered in the fridge for half an hour.
5. In the meantime prepare the spiced dates spread for the filling: Using a food processor or stick blender, mash the pitted dates together with their soaking water. Add the beloved spices and blend once more until you reach a smooth consistency.
6. Prepare a baking tray lined with a sheet of baking paper.
7. Take the dough out of the fridge, knit it a bit more to absorb back the liquids, and divide it to 3 even pieces.
8. Place one piece of dough on a slightly floured working surface. Gently flatten the dough to a rectangular shape using a rolling pin. The dough should be around 2-3 mm thin. Don’t worry if it does not look like a perfect rectangle, you can adjust and straighten the edges using a spatula.
9. Spread evenly about a third of the dates spread across the flattened dough and sprinkle on top of it about a third of the nuts.
10. Roll the dough slowly and tightly as possible. It is o.k. if the dough cracks a little bit, use your fingers to close any large cracks.
11. Place the rolled dough on the baking tray and repeat steps 8-10 with the other two parts of the dough.
12. Preheat the oven to 170 °C .
13. Before baking, use a sharp knife to gently mark by shallow grooves about 15-20 cookies in each roll. Do not cut the rolls all the way through, just make subtle cutting marks.
14. Bake the cookies for about 40 minutes.
15. Let the baked dough cool down completely.
16. Use the knife to cut the cookies slowly and gently. At this point the cookies are a bit soft yet delicious, so you can already serve and enjoy them. If you prefer them more dry and crunchy like us, spread the cut cookies on the baking tray and bake them again at 140 °C for about 40-50 minutes.
17. Let the cookies cool down and then sprinkle them with powdered cane sugar.

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