A surfeit of dates

 It's that time of year, isn't it? When we buy dates, nuts, satsumas and Quality Street, regardless of whether anyone in the house likes them or not.

At least one person in the Netherton household will eat and enjoy at least one of the above, so none of it goes to waste.

That being said, we find ourselves with a surfeit of dates (don't ask!).

Inevitably there has been a sticky toffee pudding, with a generous studding of dates, there have been dates stuffed with marzipan to enjoy with coffee, dates stuffed with ricotta, orange zest and thyme, aubergine with saffron, black cardamom and date butter from Diana Henry's From The Oven To The Table

But then I was reading about treacle tarts - if you slip down that rabbit hole on Google you could be lost for days - and an idea took shape.

Treacle tart with dates and nuts.

Start with a basic shortcrust pastry using 110g plain flour to 55g fat (I used butter) with the zest of an orange and water to bind.

Roll out the pastry and line a greased 8½" cake tin (pictured) for a deep pie or a 10" pie dish

Chill the pie case while you make the filling.

100g dates, chopped and soaked for an hour in the juice of the orange you zested for the pastry (waste not, want not)

50g chopped nuts

45g black treacle

120g golden syrup

40g butter

50g double (heavy) cream

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Set the oven to 170ºC 

Place the treacle, syrup and butter in a saucepan - I am lucky, I get to use one of our copper milkpans and warm over a gentle heat until the butter melts.

Stir in all the other ingredients.

Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, then pour in the treacle mixture nad return the tart to the oven.

bake for a further 30 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving with clotted cream or custard.

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