Garrett hosted us for cookie exchange on a nice Saturday afternoon. It was a nice get together with the Sacramento Area food bloggers and writers, as usual. Thanks once more for hosting the event Garrett!

If you are going to share/give away the food, you should always practice ahead, right? Well, not so much for me when I get the recipe from a trusted source. This time I got it from another blogger friend; Mine. Thankfully she writes her posts both in German and Turkish, otherwise it would have been at the hands of internet-translation from German to English.

The only thing I changed in the recipe was to use date paste, instead of half, pitted dates to fill in the cookies. That is because I had them at hand, and it turned out pretty good. So, either way works fine. The result is as buttery, rich as a date cookie can get. You can find dates in pretty much in every store, and date paste was purchased from an Israeli store in town.

Date Filled Cookies (40 - 44 pieces)

• 200 gr unsalted butter
• 4 Tbs yogurt
• 4 Tbs powdered sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• approximately 400 - 420 gr all purpose flour
• 20 - 22 pitted dates or 450gr date paste

Topping: 2 Tbs powdered sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
2. Melt the butter, cool to touch and add yogurt & sugar. Add baking powder with the first cup of flour, and add the flour slowly, while mixing/kneading with hand until a soft dough is formed
3. Take small pieces (walnut size) from dough, level it in your palm, put half a date (or a teaspoonful) in it, close it tight and put on a cookie sheet. No need to space them so far apart, they will not expand
4. When all cookies are made, bake them in the preheated oven for 15 - 20 mins, until light brown. Cool
5. Mix the topping sugar + cinnamon. Roll the cookies one by one in the mix, set aside
6. Enjoy with a warm cup of tea/coffee or a hot chocolate!

Finally I was able to get some good quince and made the dessert I promised some time ago! Simple and full of elegant flavors; this dessert is one of my favorite fall/winter desserts. If you have a chance to buy nice, firm quinces your dessert would be ready in an hour, with no much effort.

Quince Dessert (6 servings)

• 3 quinces (total of approximately 750gr ~ 25 oz)
• 6 - 7 Tbs sugar
• 6 - 7 whole cloves

1. Wash and cut the quinces lengthwise in half
2. Cut the stem, scoop out the seeds, reserving all. If you like, you can also peel them, again reserving the peels
3. Put the half quince pieces, hollow side facing up in a saucepan with a lid, next to each other, in one layer. Fill the seed holes with sugar (1 Tbs each should be plenty.)
4. Put the seeds, peel and the cloves in the pan (use these to prop up any of the quinces that do not want to stand up on their belly.) Add 2 cups of water to the pan
5. Using low heat, cook the dessert until the water becomes a thick syrup; about an hour
6. Serve warm, if you can, using some of the syrup as a topping. With a mound of whipping cream on top!