5. Date Crumble Shortbread**

Name: Date Crumble Shortbread
Yield: Makes 16–20 squares
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: 250 g/9 oz plain flour, sifted; 50 g/1¾ oz semolina; 100 g/3½ oz golden caster sugar; 1 tsp demerara sugar; 1 tbsp (2 balls) stem ginger; grated zest of 1 orange; 3 tbsp orange juice; 25 g/1 oz butter; 200 g/7 oz dried dates, stoned and chopped; 200 g/7 oz butter, slightly softened; 2 tbsp syrup from stem-ginger jar

Preparation info

Makes
16–20 squares

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Scottish Baking

By Sue Lawrence

Published 2016

About

These little squares are delicious with a cup of tea – or perfect to take on picnics. Be sure to leave them till completely cold in the tin or they will collapse. Patience!

Ingredients

200 g/7 oz dried dates, stoned and chopped
25 g/1

Europe
United Kingdom
Snack
Baking
Vegetarian
Scotland

Method

Place the first six ingredients in a pan and bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes or until the dates are soft. Remove from the heat, tip into a small food-processor and whizz. Allow to cool.

For the shortbread, beat the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy – about 10 minutes – then gradually add the flour and semolina and a p