It has been a while since I posted last… I have been super busy plus my laptop broke and I am trying so hard to figure out how to use my new one. Took me over an hour to figure out how to upload photos! I finally got it, so yay! My house is upside down at the moment; I was hoping to get everything done before Ramadan started but doesn’t look like that is gonna happen.
I began priming one wall, so if we can get that painted at least I will be happy. That way I can put up my Ramadan banner.
I had planned a lavish table setting for this post, but nothing was working out this week, not to mention I haven’t been feeling well.
With what I had to work with and the kind of week I’ve had, these photos are pretty nice. How sweet are those trays? A friend of mine went to thedatepalm and I happened to see them on camera and was like yes I want those! In the large tray, I have bags of dates and cookies; in the medium size tray, I have my date balls; and in the mini tray I added these purple wrapped up chocolates. As you can see, I am going with a purple theme. I couldn’t think of anything else at the moment as I wanted to get this photo shoot done.
I had envisioned my cookies to look fancy and decorated, but there seems to be a shortage on cream of tartar in town, so I had to go with a different route. I think the cookies look cute and are practical! Anyone can make them… no need to go all fancy!
I used a ready royal icing mix that works great when you are making flowers or roses for cakes, by the way. I went against the instructions on the package that asked for 56 mls of water, mind you that is great for flowers but not for icing cookies. I added enough to make it a consistency that allowed me to easily pipe onto the cookies. I used a mini spoon to flatten the icing out.
I got these cookie cutters from easterntoybox a few years ago and I use them every year! Makes celebrating Ramadan and Eid fun for the kids and who are we kidding, for us too!
For the cookies to retain their shape in the oven, I recommend you to put them in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookies, before baking; otherwise they will turn out like a blob of cookie dough.
You can use ready sugar cookie dough mix or use my sugar cookie dough recipe. You can make your cookies thin or thick, however you like.
Find the full recipe here—-> frosted-sugar-cookies
These cookies make great gifts, along with some dates and dried fruit and nuts. Have the kids help you wrap and fill up the goodie bags or trays for family and friends.
For the date balls, I used medjool dates and instead of making 12 date balls like in my original post, it turned into 24 dates balls; they are bigger than your regular dates so that could be why. I didn’t change anything except I used medjool dates this time.
These are great for Ramadan; I like to make them ahead of time and freeze them.
Link to original post—> walnut-date-balls
- Mejdool dates (or any soft date will do even paste)
- 1/4 cup dark cocoa
- 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/2 cup whole walnuts
- icing sugar (optional)
Remove pits from dates, and add to food processor with all the other ingredients blend until becomes a paste. Remove from processor and shape into balls. Dip them into some icing sugar and enjoy!
You can dip them in coconut or ground nuts as well if you don’t want to use icing sugar.
Makes 24 balls