Oatmeal Date (and White Chocolate?) Shortbread Cookie

• porcie: makes 30 to 32 cookies

Ingrediencie

1 ½ cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons (80 grams) packed light-brown sugar

¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon (3 grams) kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (8 ounces or 225 grams) unsalted butter, cold for food processor or stand mixer, room temperature for hand mixer

1 cups (130 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup (140 grams) chopped, pitted dates

About ½ teaspoon (but, please, just eyeball it) finely grated orange zest

FOR WHITE CHOCOLATE VARIATION

Reduce the dates to ⅔ cup, and add 1 cup (6 ounces, or 170 grams) chopped white chocolate when you add the dates. This is our second-favorite way to make the cookies-delicious, but sweeter and slightly less delicate.

Postup

IN STAND MIXER

Combine the flour, sugars, and salt.

Add the vanilla and cold butter in chunks, and beat until the butter is fully blended into the flour.

Add the oats, dates, and orange zest, and mix until everything is combined and the dough looks a little clumpy.

With a hand mixer: Beat room- temperature butter, sugars, and salt together in a medium-to-large bowl until light and smooth.

Add vanilla, flour, oats, dates, and orange zest and beat until combined; the mixture will seem crumbly.

Divide the dough in half, and transfer each to a 9- by-13-inch piece of parchment paper. Draw up the sides of the paper over one half of the dough, press the dough from the outside of the paper into a tight log, and then roll the extra paper up around it. Repeat with the second half of the dough, forming another log.

Chill the logs until they're firm, about 1 hour in the fridge or 20 minutes in the freezer.

WHEN READY TO BAKE

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Unwrap each cookie log, and use the parchment to line a large baking sheet.

Carefully cut each log with a sharp serrated knife into ½-inch slices.

If the slices break apart, just squeeze them back together. Arrange them on the prepared baking sheets). The cookies will barely spread.

Bake them for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to get golden brown. Let them cool slightly before transferring the cookies you don't eat immediately to wire racks to cool.

Poznámky

From: ‘Smitten Kitchen Keepers’ by Deb Perlman

DO AHEAD The dough log can be made ahead and stored, wrapped in plastic, for 1 week in the fridge, or I month in the freezer. Baked cookies keep in an airtight container for 5 days, or so I've heard.