Date Pastry

Ingredients

• 400 g dried dates
• 10 g ginger
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 125 ml lukewarm milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 0.5 cube fresh yeast (21 g)
• 250 g flour
• 3 Tbsp liquid butter
• 1 egg
• flour (for the work surface)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 Tbsp whipping cream

Instructions

1. 1.

   Cover the dates with cold water and soak for about 12 hours. Drain them the next day, reserving a little of the soaking water. Pat the dates dry and place them in a blender. Peel and roughly chop the ginger, then add it along with the cinnamon. Blend the dates into a fine puree, adding some reserved soaking water if needed until a spreadable consistency is achieved.

2. 2.

   For the yeast dough, mix the milk with 1 tbsp sugar and crumbled yeast. In a bowl combine the flour, butter, remaining sugar, and egg. Pour in the yeast mixture and knead everything with an electric hand mixer’s dough hooks until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

3. 3.

   Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F) with both top and bottom heat.

4. 4.

   On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough again and roll it into a rectangle roughly 25×35 cm. Spread the date mixture over the dough, roll from the long side, and cut into slices about 1 cm thick. Place the rolls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Whisk together the egg yolk and cream, brush each roll with this glaze, and bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve with tea or coffee.