diff --git a/features/permalinks.feature b/features/permalinks.feature
index ca0482fce90..a69e059bf94 100644
--- a/features/permalinks.feature
+++ b/features/permalinks.feature
@@ -71,14 +71,14 @@ Feature: Fancy permalinks
     And I should see "Totally custom." in "_site/03-27-2009/custom-permalink-schema.html"
 
   Scenario: Use custom permalink schema with date and time
-    Given I have a _posts directory
+    Given I have a configuration file with:
+    | key         | value              |
+    | permalink   | "/:year:month:day:hour:minute:second.html" |
+    | timezone    | UTC                |
+    And I have a _posts directory
     And I have the following post:
       | title                   | category | date                | content         |
       | Custom Permalink Schema | stuff    | 2009-03-27 22:31:07 | Totally custom. |
-    And I have a configuration file with:
-      | key         | value              |
-      | permalink   | "/:year:month:day:hour:minute:second.html" |
-      | timezone    | UTC                |
     When I run jekyll build
     Then I should get a zero exit status
     And the _site directory should exist
diff --git a/features/step_definitions.rb b/features/step_definitions.rb
index c69cc0891d3..f4e80e770d9 100644
--- a/features/step_definitions.rb
+++ b/features/step_definitions.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
   FileUtils.rm_rf(Paths.test_dir) if Paths.test_dir.exist?
   FileUtils.mkdir_p(Paths.test_dir) unless Paths.test_dir.directory?
   Dir.chdir(Paths.test_dir)
+  @timezone_before_scenario = ENV["TZ"]
 end
 
 #
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@
   Paths.output_file.delete if Paths.output_file.exist?
   Paths.status_file.delete if Paths.status_file.exist?
   Dir.chdir(Paths.test_dir.parent)
+  ENV["TZ"] = @timezone_before_scenario
 end
 
 #
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@
 
     if status == "post"
       parsed_date = Time.xmlschema(input_hash["date"]) rescue Time.parse(input_hash["date"])
+      input_hash["date"] = parsed_date
       filename = "#{parsed_date.strftime("%Y-%m-%d")}-#{title}.#{ext}"
     end
 
@@ -116,6 +119,7 @@
       {}
     end
   config[key] = YAML.load(value)
+  Jekyll.set_timezone(value) if key == "timezone"
   File.write("_config.yml", YAML.dump(config))
 end
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/document.rb b/lib/jekyll/document.rb
index 1eb8418605e..f7a05a12d0f 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/document.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/document.rb
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@ def merge_categories!(other)
 
     private
     def merge_date!(source)
-      if data.key?("date") && !data["date"].is_a?(Time)
+      if data.key?("date")
         data["date"] = Utils.parse_date(
           data["date"].to_s,
           "Document '#{relative_path}' does not have a valid date in the #{source}."
diff --git a/test/source/_dates/date_without_time.md b/test/source/_dates/date_without_time.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7e5ee003808
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/source/_dates/date_without_time.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+date: 2015-10-01
+---
+Here is the content.
diff --git a/test/source/_dates/time_with_timezone.md b/test/source/_dates/time_with_timezone.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5a7c9277bc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/source/_dates/time_with_timezone.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+date: 2015-10-01 01:00:00 +0800
+---
+Here is the content.
diff --git a/test/source/_dates/time_without_timezone.md b/test/source/_dates/time_without_timezone.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ae0423e10cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/source/_dates/time_without_timezone.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+date: 2015-10-01 01:00:00
+---
+Here is the content.
diff --git a/test/test_document.rb b/test/test_document.rb
index 6ce71230680..213271c8b87 100644
--- a/test/test_document.rb
+++ b/test/test_document.rb
@@ -16,6 +16,19 @@ def setup_encoded_document(filename)
     }).tap(&:read)
   end
 
+  def setup_document_with_dates(filename)
+    site = fixture_site("collections" => ["dates"])
+    site.process
+    docs = nil
+    with_env("TZ", "UTC") do
+      docs = Document.new(site.in_source_dir(File.join("_dates", filename)), {
+        :site       => site,
+        :collection => site.collections["dates"],
+      }).tap(&:read)
+    end
+    docs
+  end
+
   context "a document in a collection" do
     setup do
       @site = fixture_site({
@@ -558,4 +571,34 @@ def setup_encoded_document(filename)
       Jekyll::Renderer.new(@document.site, @document).render_document
     end
   end
+
+  context "a document with a date with timezone" do
+    setup do
+      @document = setup_document_with_dates "time_with_timezone.md"
+    end
+
+    should "have the expected date" do
+      assert_equal "2015/09/30", @document.data["date"].strftime("%Y/%m/%d")
+    end
+  end
+
+  context "a document with a date with time but without timezone" do
+    setup do
+      @document = setup_document_with_dates "time_without_timezone.md"
+    end
+
+    should "have the expected date" do
+      assert_equal "2015/10/01", @document.data["date"].strftime("%Y/%m/%d")
+    end
+  end
+
+  context "a document with a date without time" do
+    setup do
+      @document = setup_document_with_dates "date_without_time.md"
+    end
+
+    should "have the expected date" do
+      assert_equal "2015/10/01", @document.data["date"].strftime("%Y/%m/%d")
+    end
+  end
 end