DATE COOKIES

From 1922:

1 lb. stoned and chopped dates, 2 oz. butter, 1 cupful sugar, 1 ½ cupfuls flour, 1 ¼ lb. chopped walnuts, 2 eggs, a little citron (finely shredded), a level teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda, 4 tablespoonfuls hot water, spice according to taste. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs (well beaten) and soda dissolved in hot water. Sift in flour to which has been added the spices. Add dates, walnuts and peel. Mix well and drop by teaspoonfuls on buttered tin. Bake for a quarter of an hour in a moderate oven.