What’s your favorite not-too-sweet Christmas dessert? Mine are date rolls. What are these East Indian date rolls? Date rolls are simple and easy to make bites that are similar to buttery shortbread cookies but are stuffed with walnuts and dates. And they taste as heavenly as vanilla cream or marzipan. Well, almost! Nothing will ever beat the traditional East Indian vanilla cream or marzipan!
Here’s the recipe for how to make the traditional East Indian date rolls!
Ingredients for the traditional date rolls recipe
200 grams maida or all-purpose flour
90 grams powdered sugar
100 grams butter
100 grams walnuts
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
200 grams seedless dates
1 tsp baking powder
Start by breaking the walnuts into approximately eight pieces each. Smaller broken pieces will do too. If you have leftover walnuts from your walnut fudge, go ahead and use them. Just make sure you stuff a decent amount of walnuts in each roll. So you’re basically rolling half a date around each walnut to create oblong balls. Keep this aside.
Next cream the butter and sugar. Then beat the egg and add to it. Also, add in the flour and the baking powder and knead to a soft dough.
Roll out the dough to about 2 to 4 mm thick, and cut into rectangular strips that are about 1.5 inch long. Roll these strips around each date and walnut ball, and place them on a tray lined with butter paper.
You don’t have to grease the butter paper. The rolls will leak out the butter themselves. If you’re wondering why the paper in the pic above looks greased, it’s because we reuse the butter paper for multiple batches. Yeah, that’s doable! Reduce waste and help the environment.
Beat one egg yolk in a separate vessel and glaze the date rolls with this yolk.
Preheat an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Of course, this will differ based on the type of your oven. Bake your date rolls for 20 to 25 minutes and they’re done! Aren’t these one of the easiest East Indian foods and desserts to make? And so deliciously yummy! What do you think?
East Indian Date Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
- 200 gm all purpose flour (maida)
- 90 gm powder sugar
- 100 gm butter
- 100 gm walnuts
- 200 gm dates seeded
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- Break the walnuts into eight small pieces and roll each of them in half a date roll.
- Cream the butter and sugar.
- Beat the egg and add to the butter and sugar.
- Next, add the flour and baking powder and knead to a soft dough.
- Roll the dough and cut into 1.5 inch long rectangular pieces that are about 2 to 4 mm thick.
- Roll the strips around each date and walnut ball.
- Place on a tray lined with butter paper or parchment paper.
- Beat an egg yolk and glaze the date rolls.
- Preheat an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.
- Bake the date rolls for 25 minutes.
- Cool and they're ready to serve.
- They'll keep for 2 to 3 weeks at room temperature.
this has always been my favorite East Indian Christmas dessert. If I was allowed, I’d eat dozens of them in a day.
I’ve tasted these in Dubai too. They have a different name here! But I love the East Indian version better.
My favorite East Indian Christmas sweet.
I love it when then turn out crispy.