Ingredients
- 250g of stoned and roughly chopped fresh dates
- 225g wholewheat flour (if not plain white flour is fine)
- 100g butter
- 2-4 tablespoons of cool water for mixing
- A little icing sugar for decoration (not in stock)
Directions
Everyone enjoys the excuse to have a biscuit with a cup of coffee or tea, mid-morning or in the afternoon. These date biscuits really are irresistible as the dates remain lovely and moist. It is certainly hard to refrain from taking a second biscuit, so it might be safer to double the quantity and make two trays!
Steps
1 Done | 1Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. |
2 Done | 2Pour the chopped dates into a saucepan with the water and cook very gently until the water has been absorbed. Mash the mixture gently with a fork. |
3 Done | 3Pour the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. |
4 Done | 4Add two tablespoons of water to the mixture and stir well. If the mixture is a little dry, add another tablespoon of water and mix well, until a soft dough is formed. |
5 Done | 5Knead the pastry on a floured surface for a few moments and then roll out half of the mixture to fit the base of the Swiss roll tin. |
6 Done | 6Pour the date mixture on top of the pastry and spread the mixture evenly. Roll the other half of the pastry and cover the date mixture. Trim the edges to fit perfectly. Prick the surface of the pastry. |
7 Done | 7Bake for 30 minutes until the pastry top is golden brown. |
8 Done | 8Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool for about ten minutes. |
9 Done | 9Cut into evenly sized fingers and cool completely. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving. |
