Old fashioned oatmeal cookies with date filling are similar to oatcakes. Rolled fairly thin, they become a cut-out cookie deliciously sandwiched with date paste or berry jam.
Much like a familiar scent can be a powerful memory trigger, for me, a familiar recipe that I connect with some special can conjure all sorts of happy memories.
In this way I have always found it reassuring how people live on through their recipes.
We received news last evening that my husband’s Aunt Marcia had passed away. She was a huge part of my husband’s life and became very special to me too.
Aunt Marcia was larger than life, had a hearty laugh and gave very big hugs. She was also an incredible cook so there was never a shortage of things for the two of us to talk about during our visits.
Aunt Marcia adored my husband and when he went home for weekend visits during university she’d send him back to school with homemade care parcels filled with old-fashioned doughnuts, her famous molasses cookies and, on occasion, a bottle of her dandelion wine.
The care parcels continued as long as she could still bake and it’s now her son Leonard who has stocked us up with Aunt Marcia’s familiar favourites.
Aunt Marcia’s Oatmeal Cookies with Date Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
- 1 ¾ cups flour (I use while white)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- Thick jam or date paste for sandwiching (recipe below)
Instructions:
- Preheat to oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the milk and vanilla
- In another bowl stir together the rolled oats, flour, baking powder and salt.
- Stir the oat mixture into the butter mixture until combined.
- Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a disk. Gently roll to ¼ inch thick, adding flour as required, to keep the dough from sticking.
- Cut into rounds and bake on prepared sheet for 12-15 minutes.
- Cool and sandwich with jam or date paste.
Date paste
- 16-20 pitted dates
- Boiling water to cover
- 2 Tbsp. butter
Place the dates and water in a saucepan and cook until it forms a rough paste. Remove from heat and stir in the butter.
Very very delicious cookies!! Thank you because everybody loved them! I will make these on a regular basis!!😊
Thanks Brenda. I’m so pleased you enjoyed them.
My mum used to make a cookie similar to this one, but I think she ground the rolled oats and the cookies were crisper.
Any thoughts on how I can replicate hers
Hi Diane, I wonder if your mom used shortening or lard instead of butter. That would add to the crispiness. If your rolled oats are very sturdy you could pulse them in the food processor a few times. Is that what she did or did she grind them pretty much to flour? I haven’t tried either of these suggestions with this recipe. But, if I were to try something I’d experiment with shortening. Hope this helps!