Date Pinwheel Cookies with Peanut Butter & Oats!

Old Fashioned Date Pinwheels with the GREAT taste of Peanut Butter & Oats ! Growing up we always had a special Christmas treat of pitted dates stuffed with peanut butter , then rolled in sugar. I wondered if I could capture that old time favorite in a cookie. This is the end result and it does remind me of what we called Stuffed Monkeys from back in the day . These cookie have 3 steps but they are WORTH IT !
                                                                         

Cookie Dough:
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla
4 cups Flour
1 Tsp Salt
3/4 Tsp Baking Soda

Soften the butter then beat with mixer until creamed. Add sugars & beat. Add eggs & vanilla & beat again. Sift all dry ingredients together. Now slowly add a few cup at a time into your butter mixture beating each time before adding more. Chill the dough ! Overnight is best but at least 4 hours !

Date Filling:

2 Cups Chopped Dates ( I buy mine already chopped).                                
1 & 3/4 Cups water
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Chunky Peanut Butter ( not my homemade use a store bought)
1 Cup Rolled Oats or Oatmeal, just not instant!
2 Tsp Vanilla
2 Dashes of Salt
Place everything in a deep saucepan & cook over medium high heat on the stove top. Stir the entire time. Cook until thick & mixture turns a clear deep brown color. It should be bubbling. BE CAREFUL that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. It will have the tendency to do so, just stir from the bottom & turn heat down a bit if you need. Once it has thickened & cleared in color, remove from heat & let come down to room temperature . Once room temp. get your dough out !

Making the Pinwheel Rolls :
Divide dough in 1/2. Take one 1/2 of the dough & place on a well floured surface. Roll out into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick 8 inches wide & about 15 inches long. Smear the surface with 1/2 of your date mixture spreading out over the surface of your dough. Be careful not to press to hard or the dough will rip. I have found using a frosting spreader & my fingers work well together to spread the filling out over the dough. Roll up like a jelly roll so you have one long log of cookie ! I then cut the log in 1/2 place on a plate & cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate. Now prepare the remaining dough the same way. Refrigerate cookie logs 4 hours but best overnight!

BAKING :
Spray cookie sheets with baking spray or grease lightly. Uncover one roll at time while leaving other rolls in the refrigerator to stay chilled. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice as thin as you like I made mine a little under a 1/4 inch thick & got 15 cookies per logs . Lay cut side down on cookie sheet & bake 8 to 10 minutes OR if your oven is slow about 13 minutes like I had to do ! Remove from sheets & let cool. Store in an airtight container ! This made 60 Pinwheels !