Here they are at last – the best ever biscuits. Date filled, sugar dusted, melt in the mouth goodness. There’s an art to making them, but if you’re willing to take the time to master the art, they are well worth the effort. Making these is all about the feel and technique – people who have been making them for years still don’t always get it 100%. If you try them and they don’t quite work, leave me a comment, and I’ll consult with the “master cooks”, Rosemary and Aunty Irene.
No more waiting, here it is.
2 1/2 packets of butter
1 kilo plain flour
2 heaped tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mahleb
icing sugar (to serve)
Wash the dates very well. Drain them, keeping them moist. Place them in a saucepan with the 2 tablespoons of butter. Simmer until the dates are soft. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool. Roll the date mixture into small cylinders, ready for putting into the biscuits.
Place the rest of the butter in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, and boil for a few minutes.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees
In a large, heatproof mixing bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and mahleb. Add the butter slowly and mix in with a wooden spoon. Switch to mixing with your hand when almost all the butter has been added and the mixture has cooled enough. The dough should be moist, but still reasonably firm. When you roll some in a ball it should be shiny and smooth. When you spread the mixture in a disc onto your palm, it should hold it’s shape and not crack too much at edges.
Take some dough and roll a ball the size a walnut. Flatten that ball into a disc on the palm of your hand, about 5cm across. Place some of the date filling onto the dough disc, and then fold the dough over and around the filling. Shape the dough with the mixture in the middle into a cylinder. Place on a baking tray, and pinch across the surfac if you have a pincher. This is not essential, but it makes the biscuits look pretty and helps the icing sugar stick.
Place them in the middle of the oven. Get them out when they start to brown.
To serve, sift some icing sugar onto plate. Press each biscuit into the plate, so that a nice thick layer of icing sugar catches onto the base of each biscuit. Place the biscuits in a place, and then sift icing sugar over all of the biscuit until they are totally covered.
