Nutty Oatmeal-Dates Cookies

This is the first baking recipe posted in my blog, as I had no conventional baking oven so long in my residence. But that didn't stop me baking time to time, I did microwave baking till now. Now, as I moved to a new place, I got not only one, but two ovens where I can bake. Now, you'll get to see few baked delights here.

That day, I was browsing through Martha Stewart's page for some easy-to-make cookie recipe and found this one very interesting. I had all the ingredients, so I immediately started baking it and got some delightful and healthy home-made cookies. It's a very easy-to-make recipe and healthy for kids, too. My kids loved them. It was over within a week.

Ingredients : (yields about 2 dozens)

Recipe Source : Martha Stewart

Unsalted butter : 1 cup/2 sticks (room temperature)

Vegetable shortening : 1/4 cup( I subsituted it with 1/2 cup margarine)

Light-brown sugar : 1 cup

Granulated sugar : 3/4 cup

Eggs : 2 (large)

Vanilla extract : 1 tsp.

All-purpose flour : 2 cups

Rolled oats : 2 cups

Pitted dates : 1 cup (chopped finely)

Almond/walnut/pecans : 1/2 cup(chopped finely)

Baking soda/baking powder : 1/2 tsp.
Salt : 1/2 tsp.

Ground cinnamon : 1/2 teaspoon

Method :

Preheat oven to 350 degree celcius.
In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening with electric mixer until smooth. Add both sugars, and beat until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Beat in vanilla.
Take a seperate bowl, mix flour and rolled oats first. Add nuts and dates in and mix. add baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Mix well everything. Gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mix until all ingredients are wellcombined and you have a smooth dough.
Drop batter with a tablespoon on ungreased baking sheets about 1/2 inch apart. Bake until golden brown on top, about 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.