Even though I say so myself, these Date & Stem Ginger Shortbread Squares are one of the best things I have baked in the last few months. The shortbread is so buttery and crumbly, and when combined with the sticky date and stem ginger filling, these little squares make for an extremely morish treat. It’s very difficult just to eat one!
What do you need to make these Date & Stem Ginger Shortbread Squares?
To make these Date & Stem Ginger Shortbread Squares you will need to prepare two separate components: A sticky date and ginger filling, and a crumbly, buttery shortbread. The date and stem ginger filling requires heating of dates, stem ginger, and some butter in a small saucepan and simmering the mixture briefly to soften the dates. The mixture is then blended into a thick purée and left to cool before creating a date and ginger layer in the shortbread.
The shortbread is then made by creaming together butter with both caster and soft light brown sugar which adds a caramel note to it. The shortbread also has some semolina added to it, which gives it an especially crumbly texture. And with the large quantity of butter used here you’ll end up with the most delicious, buttery, and crumbly shortbread you’ve ever tasted 😉!
To assemble the Date & Ginger Shortbread Squares, the shortbread mixture is first used to create the bottom layer, it’s then topped with the date and ginger mixture, before the last of the shortbread mix is crumbled over the top. Easy peasy and the result looks stunning!
More Delicious Biscuit Recipes
Who doesn’t like a biscuit with their afternoon cup of tea? No one? Exactly! I have loads of other biscuit recipes on my blog, so go check out some of my favourites listed below:
- Mary Berry’s Viennese Whirls
- Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Paul’s Wagon Wheel Biscuits
- Chocolate and Hazelnut Shortbread dipped in Chocolate | Haselnussbrot
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread
- Millionaire’s Shortbread | British Baking Classic
- Love Heart Sandwich Biscuits filled with Cherry Jam
- Chocolate Digestives | British Baking Classic
- Mixed Nut Butter Cookies (Vegan/Dairy-free)
- Maple and Walnut Biscuits
- Gingernut Biscuits | British Baking Classic
- Chocolate Orange Crescents | German Christmas Baking
- Mini Egg Cookies
- Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cookies
- Almond Shortbread Fingers
Date & Stem Ginger Shortbread Squares
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE DATE & GINGER FILLING
- 200g soft pitted dates, roughly chopped
- 25g butter
- 2 balls of stem ginger (from a jar)
- 2 tbsp of juice from stem ginger jar
- 3 tbsp hot water
FOR THE SHORTBREAD DOUGH
- 200g butter
- 55g light brown soft sugar
- 45g caster sugar
- 250g plain flour
- 50g semolina
- Pinch of salt
- Icing sugar, granulated sugar or demerara sugar, to finish (optional)
Method:
- To make the filling, place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan, stir and slowly bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat and leave the filling to gently simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and either use a stick blender or small food processor to blitz until smooth. Set aside until completely cooled.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C and lightly grease and line a XXxXXcm tin with baking paper.
- For the shortbread, cream together the butter and two sugars for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is lighter in colour and creamy. Then gradually beat in the flour, semolina and salt to form a biscuit dough.
- Tip two thirds of the dough into the prepared baking tin and press it down in an even layer to cover the bottom of the tin. Carefully spread the cooled date mixture over the top. Then break the remaining shortbread dough into nuggets and scatter over the date mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until golden-brown.
- Remove the date & ginger shortbread from the oven and leave to cool completely before removing it from its tin. Sprinkle with a sugar of your choosing and cut into 20 pieces to serve.
