Sour Cream Date Cookies With Browned Butter Frosting - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 cups pitted dates, chopped (16 oz)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 - 1 cup chopped pecans or 1/2-1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup real butter
1/4 1/4 cup half-and-half or 1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 -4 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

Cream the butter and sugar together till fluffy. Add eggs, spice mix, baking soda and salt. Mix very well. Add 1 cup of the flour, mix well, then add all of the sour cream, then the other 1 cup of flour. Mix very well again, scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Stir in vanilla, nuts and chopped dates. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 375 degrees for 10 min approximately. You want them soft and moist. Do not overbake. Let cookies cool while making frosting.
Using a heavy bottom pan, melt the 1 stick of real butter. Let this simmer slowly on medium heat till it becomes nutty brown, and smells sort of like nuts. If it burns, you must start over. Nothing can save burnt butter!
When butter is browned, add the cream and let it bubble a min or so. Dump this mixture over 3 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl and stir with a whisk (or use electric mixer) till smooth. Add vanilla. You want this a soft consistency that will stick to the cookies, but not so soft it runs off the cookies. Add more sugar if necessary, or a bit more cream if necessary to achieve correct consistency. I use a scant teaspoon of frosting per cookie, but you may like less. I like my cookies with a hefty dose of frosting. Cookies are sweet by themselves, and you can omit frosting if you wish.