My friend Hetal from Milk & Cardamom and I have collaborated to create a beautiful Diwali box, with plenty of sweet and savory ideas that you can make for your near and dear ones for Diwali! Diwali is a time for celebration, sharing, family time, love and laughter. Diwali brings color and light to the home and to our hearts. Both of us will be making 3 sweets and 1 savory dish to share with you – one each day, and we will share the final Diwali box next week! We are so excited to share all these goodies with you!! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have enjoyed making them and photographing them.
The second recipe that I am sharing today is inspired by a sweet that my mom used to make for us all the time. It would be made during Diwali or just because, otherwise as well! It was a healthy snack that we ate after school, when we were hungry, anything we were hungry! Because we were hungry kids !! The sweet is Khajur Kopra Roll, which is essentially a Date and Nut roll, rolled in dried desiccated coconut. My mom would make this sweet, by warming ghee in a pot, then adding chopped dates to it, dried figs, nuts like almonds, pistachios and spices like nutmeg and cardamom. There was no sugar in this sweet. Once cooked for a few minutes. She would let it cool ever so slightly, and then roll it into a log. Once rolled into a log, she would roll it in desiccated coconut to give it an extra flair! It would be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in the fridge. She would then cut it into slices and serve to guests, or we would just eat it whenever we felt like it ! She did not stop us ofcourse because it was healthy and gives an instant energy boost with all the ghee, dates, and nuts!
When I delivered my first born, my daughter – my mom was not with us. My masis (mom’s sisters), came from the UK, and they helped out with Anishka. It was really really sweet of them to come all the way and help me out with my first born because ofcourse I was clueless on so many things. They would cook meals for all of us and just be there physically and emotionally to help with whatever I needed. I will never forget this kind gesture from them. One of my masis got 4 of these khajur kopra rolls! I would savor them and have them so slowly cause they were so good, and did give an instant energy boost with all the breast feeding, and energy that I was expensing with Anishka!
The second recipe is inspired by these rolls. I made a riff of these rolls with a cookie! Here are my Date and Nut Pinwheel Cookies! I make a sugar cookie dough with orange zest, the cookie dough itself smells amazing with all the zest that is in it! The dough is formed into a disc and set in the fridge for a bit. I make a date paste with dates, almonds, pistachios, dried unsweetened shredded coconut, nutmeg and cardamom, that is sort of spreadable by adding water and sugar and cooking it on the gas stove. The cookie dough is rolled out, and then the date mixture is spread on it. The cookie dough is rolled into a log very gently. The dough tends to break but you have to sort of seal it together with your palms, as you keep rolling it together into a log. Once rolled into a log, I roll it in a turbinado sugar and rose petal mixture. It is then wrapped in a plastic wrap and set in the freezer or the fridge for a few hours.
Then onwards, these cookies are like slice and bake cookies. They are not the prettiest cookies but they are DEFINITELY the tastiest around with all those ingredients in it! The whole combination works so well together! They are super addictive, especially when they are freshly baked and out of the oven and they go fantastic with some hot pipping masala chai! I am very thrilled with these cookies and I hope you get a chance to make them too!! If you do make them please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment on this blog post!
You must check out Hetal’s Orange Tutti Fruitti Icebox Cookies, that she has on her blog today! I grew up eating tutti frutti ice cream which was my absolute favorite, so these cookies really spoke to me! Especially the orange zest in it, and the crunch from the sugar on the outside! Rishan especially told me to tell Hetal that the cookies were delicious!
Recipe#3 coming up tomorrow!
XO
Amisha
Print Khajur Paak Pinwheel Cookies(Date Nut Pinwheel Cookies)
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
(Makes about 80 cookies) Cookie dough: 4 cups all-purpose flour 1 ½ cups granulated sugar ½ cup brown sugar ½ tsp salt ½ tsp baking soda 1 tbsp orange zest 2 eggs at room temperature 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature Date-Nut Spice Paste: 1 pound pitted dates, chopped into medium pieces ½ cup granulated sugar 200 ml(1 cup) water ½ cup whole pistachios, finely chopped ½ cup whole almonds, finely chopped ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut ½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg 1 tsp freshly ground cardamom Outside crust: 1 cup turbinado sugar 1/2 cup crushed rose petals
Instructions
Cookie dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, with a paddle attachment, add in the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and orange zest and mix at high speed for 3-4 minutes. In a separate bowl, add in the flour, baking soda, and salt and whisk to combine. Now add eggs one at a time, and mix until combined. Use a spatula to clean the sides of the bowl and mix again. Add in the vanilla extract and combine again. Add in the flour mixture in two batches and whisk to combine. Divide the dough into three batches, and wrap individually into plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge for atleast an hour. Date-Nut Spice Paste: In a medium saucepan, on medium to high heat, add in the pitted dates, granulated sugar, and water. Let it come to a boil, then cover with a lid and let cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 2 minutes. Switch off the gas. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Now put the entire mixture into a food processor and pulse for a minute. Now add in the pistachios, almonds, coconut, nutmeg, cardamom in the food processor and pulse for another 30 seconds. It should look like a paste. It should not be hard but more pliable. Remove it in a bowl and set it aside. Assembly: Roll each portion of the dough between 2 parchment papers into a 12x10 rectangle. Let it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes. Remove one parchment paper, and spread 1/3 of the filling, evenly over the rectangle. Roll length-wise gently into a roll. The dough outside may break but don’t get worried, keep pressing gently with your palm to seal the dough and keep rolling until it forms an even log. On a flat jelly roll pan, mix the turbinado sugar and rose petals and mix. Now roll the log over this mixture and with your hands, gently push the sugar-rose mixture into the log. Roll until there is a nice layer formed on the outside. Now wrap each log into a plastic wrap and let it set in the freezer for half hour. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice each log into 1/3 inch slices using a clean sharp knife. Keep two baking trays with parchment paper ready. Add the slices 1 inch apart on the baking tray. Put both the trays in for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the pans half way through. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on a wire rack. Store once cooled, in an airtight container for about 2 weeks. Powered by Zip Recipes 6.1.3.3 http://thejamlab.co/2019/10/16/khajur-kopra-roll-pinwheel-cookiesdate-nut-pinwheel-cookies/ #GujaratiDishes #Box #Vegetarian #Dates #FoodieGifts
