Date and Cinnamon Squares

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I'm so looking forward to spend time with hubby as he don't have to work for 4 days. Yay!! Talking about Christmas, I like to see the decoration of some houses in this town,  very bright and colorful. There's not much of decoration at the streets, unlike in Singapore, Orchard Road and all the shopping malls, definitely, have beautiful decorations. We didn't do much, just a Christmas tree. It was fun, decorating it together. Due to in tight budget, we decided to recycled everything that we used last year for our tree. Perhaps next year, we have a better tree and decorations. :)

Anyhoo, today recipe is Date and Cinnamon Squares. I had 2 containers of date that have been sitting in my refrigerator for a while. At first, I thought of making cookies with it but I changed my mind. The recipe said 600g of dates, I was like, wow that's a lot of dates!! But after chopping and mixed with water, its not much as I thought. I really hate the chopping part. I cant believe, after chopping those dates I got a blister on my finger! Lol!!!! Well, it turned out good. Hubby loves it! :)

Date and Cinnamon Squares

(BAKING A Common Sense Guide Book by Bay Books)

Ingredients:

600g (3-1/3 cups) pitted whole dried dates, chopped

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

125g (4-1/2 oz) unsalted butter, chopped

155g (2/3 cup) soft brown sugar

2 eggs

125g (1 cup) all-purpose flour

60g (1/2 cup) self-rising flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 tsp, extra

60 g (1/2 cup) Icing (Confectioners') sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350○F / 180○C. Grease a 9 in (23cm) square shallow tin and line the base with wax paper.
2. Combine the dates and 500ml (2 cups) of water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using electric beaters until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating the cinnamon into a bowl, then fold into the butter mixture alternately with the date mixture.
4. Spread into the prepared tin. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Cut into 36 pieces and place on a sheet of greaseproof paper. Sift the combined icing sugar and extra cinnamon over the cubes and toss to coat.  Serve immediately.

Notes:

• The coating will be absorbed into the cakes quite quickly if left to stand.
• Do not coat with the icing sugar if you intend to store them. 
• Stored in an airtight container, for up to 4 days, or up to 3 months in the freezer.

Happy Holidays!