Date And Nut Fingers - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites, room temp
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups pecans or 2 cups walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted
1 cup dates, chopped see note*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 300\u00b0F, place rack in center of oven.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine and sift together powdered sugar and flour into a small bowl; set aside.
Add one tablespoon of sugar flour mixture to chopped dates and toss to coat. Use a little more (only if needed) to keep them from being too sticky.
*Note: Do NOT use pre chopped packaged dates unless the pkg states that they are NOT coated with anything.
Add salt to egg whites in a mixing bowl; beat to a stiff foam (almost to the soft peaks stage).
Add the sugar-flour mixture to the egg whites, one tablespoon at a time, beating constantly, until stiff, glossy peaks form.
Gently fold in nuts, dates and vanilla extract.
Drop from tablespoon onto the parchment paper lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
Shape into fingers, if desired, or leave in mounds.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Cookies should be a very pale beige at most, not brown.
Remove the cookies, ON the parchment paper, to cooling racks and cool completely.
When cool, carefully peel the cookies from the parchment paper (a thin bladed knife or spatula helps)
Store in an airtight container; use waxed paper between layers.