The holiday season is here, and UH News is asking members of the University of Hawaiʻi ʻohana to share their favorite recipes. The hope is these recipes and the short stories that accompany them will give everyone some ideas for eats throughout the holidays along with some good feelings of the season.
Kapiʻolani Community College student Sarah Burchard, who is also a staff writer for Kapiʻo News, shared her grandmother’s recipe for date sticks. Her grandparents lived in Palm Springs, California, which is known for its date farms.
“These soft yet crunchy, sugary treats were placed in one of those royal blue butter cookie tins (the same ones she stored her sewing supplies in) and kept on the coffee table in the living room for the taking. Inevitably, during our stay, the tin would run dry and grandma was asked to make more, which she would,” she said.
Burchard said although she enjoyed the holiday treats every year, she did not learn to make them until she was in her 30s.
“She’d either whip them up so fast we couldn’t catch her, or she made them in the afternoon when everyone was out of the house. In the years we stayed home, or went to my aunt’s house, for the holidays she would either ship us dates sticks or bring them with her,” Burchard said. “I can’t remember a childhood holiday without them.”
Grandma’s Date Sticks
Yield 32 pieces
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ Tbsp butter, melted
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups dates, pitted and chopped
- 2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Drizzle in the melted butter. Whisk together the eggs and vanilla and add to the flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula until combined (the batter will be stiff, do not overmix). Fold the dates and walnuts in with slightly wet hands until just incorporated.
On a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking oil spread the mixture out, about a half inch thick. Bake approximately 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
Let cool slightly, for about 5 minutes. Cut into 2-inch bars and roll each bar in powdered sugar while they are still warm to coat. Continue to cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack or plate.
Package in a cookie tin or tupperware and keep at room temperature.
