Easter pastries recipe

Ingredients

• ½ lb (225 g) dates, stoned
• ½ lb (225 g) walnuts, roughly chopped
• ¼ lb (110 g) almonds, roughly chopped – you can use pistachio nuts instead
• ¼ lb (110 g) sugar
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 lb (450 g) plain flour
• ½ lb (225 g) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons rosewater
• 4-5 tablespoons milk

• icing sugar

1. First prepare the filling by chopping the dates and placing them in a saucepan with 150ml (¼ pint) water, the nuts, sugar and cinnamon. Cook over a low heat until the dates are soft and the water has been absorbed.
2. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the melted butter and mix by hand. Add the rosewater and milk and knead the dough until it is soft and easy to mould. Divide the dough into walnutsized lumps. Take one lump, roll it into a ball and then hollow it out with your thumb, pinching the sides up until they are thin and form a pot-shape. Fill with some of the date mixture and then press the dough back over the filling to enclose completely. Roll into a ball and then gently press with your palm to slightly flatten it or, if you have a wooden spoon with a deep, curved bowl, mould each pastry with that. Repeat until you have used up all the pastry and filling.
3. Arrange all the pastries on baking trays. Make interesting patterns with a fork on each one. The traditional one is to mark straight lines down the length of each pastry. Bake in an oven preheated to 150C (300F) gas 2 for 20-30 minutes. Do not let them change colour or the pastry will become hard. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Roll in sieved icing sugar and store in an airtight container.