The taste of these is definitely 5-star. The preparation, however, is not. First of all, use shortening instead of butter (I know, horrors, trans fats and all that -- get serious. Who's really thinking about that when eating cookies!?). The dough, made with shortening, is stiff enough to handle right after making it. I rolled it out in a little 10x12 cookie sheet I had around, between 2 layers of plastic wrap, and refrigerated both layers right on the pan, using the plastic wrap to help during rolling. I'd suggest freezing overnight. Secondly, the nuts need to be chopped quite finely, a direction not included in the directions. If they are too large, the filling does't spread well. I thought I'd done that, but apparently they swelled up in the liquid in the filling ;-) Oh, well. Third, freezing the rolls really helped when it came to slicing. I started slicing one after it had been in the freezer only about 30 minutes, and it was just messy. The second roll had been in about a half-hour, and was much more easily handled. Those cookies look much nicer! Last, definitely bake them on parchment or that new release foil. Soooo much easier! As for the lemon, I discovered as I was making them that all I had was lemon oil, not lemon extract, so I added 1/2 teaspoon. I'll probably reduce that to 1/4 tsp next time I make this. All in all, THESE ARE GREAT if you're willing to mess around a little!

These turned out great, not too sweet, soft and chewy! I found if you roll the dough out on parchment paper, you can roll the dough and filling neatly and easily. I froze the completed rolls for a couple weeks until I was ready to bake, and cut while still slightly frozen. This made it very easy to cut and transfer to cookie sheets.

Five stars for the cookie -- Mmm, I could eat the filling alone! This is an excellent, classic date/nut cookie. I followed the recipe exactly and used unsalted butter and walnuts. But I give it a difficulty rating of four "wooden spoons" out of five. My Words to the Wise: With this 24-yield recipe, if you cut the roll exactly 1/4 inch, you will actually end up with between 72 and 96 cookies, depending on which end you start rolling from. I experimented with one of each (the 9-inch end was easier), and got 81 cookies. Also, keep in mind this is a two-day process, with two parts to chill! I recommend that, before you chill the dough and the filling, do the dividing first, and place the filling into two microwaveable bowls. The filling was easier to spread when slightly warmed, but I think it needed the chilling to have the flavors meld first, so don't skip that part. I also prepared the rolled dough on parchment paper to make it easier to roll used, used the same paper to wrap it while it chilled, and baked on ungreased parchment paper, changing the paper for each batch. They turned out just great. Hope this helps!

A very nice recipe but I made a few changes to it 1.I ommited lemon extract 2.I reduced the amount sugar because it was too sweet for me 3.I also added cardamom seed to the filling. It turned out perfect. Thank you

I followed the recipe exactly and everything turned out well. I had no trouble with the dough but I was very patient and made sure everthing chilled a long time. The recipe made 85 cookies for me. The cookies look very nice when baked. I NORMALLY like to underbake cookies because I like them chewy, but I found that this recipe actually does taste better if you bake them to a light golden brown so you get a slightly crispy cookie that's cripy on the outside yet still chewy on the inside. And of course the filling stays soft and chewy which compliments the slightly crisp cookie well. My only complaint is with the lemon extract. I hated it. I felt it riuned my beuitiful batch of cookies. It's all I can taste and I am so bummed. They were too much work to make a new batch for this holiday season so we'll eat these, but next time I will leave the lemon out completely.

I made these for a holiday luncheon and they were a big hit. They remind me of a cookie my grandmother used to make - but these are better!

Really good, I ended up with ~4 dozen cookies, and ended up with extra dough (ran out of filling). Despite the amount of filling I heaped into my cookies, they tasted more like lemon than date... I'll probably use less of the lemon ingredients next time, and perhaps a different fruit. The texture of the cookies is excellent.. crispy and chewy!

The cookies were very good. Time consuming but all roll up cookies are. The yeild is wrong. It makes 60 cookies if cut 1/4inch thick. I suppose that's 2 cookies per serving :)

I LOVE this cookie, especially at the holidays, but I have been known to make them at other times of the year. Sometimes I drizzle them with a thin icing and sprinkle a bit of colored sugar on the drizzles so it sticks and then dries just to make them look more festive for my holiday cookie plates.

I made this because I had some dates to use and it was even better than described. I took some to work and I've been asked for the recipe several times. It isn't hard to make but a little fussy and you have to allow the time for refrigerating the dough etc. I made a small adjustment in that I used walnut butter, something I had picked up and never found a use for. It was easier than chopping the nuts that the recipe calls for. The texture was good but the walnut flavor was subtle.