The inspiration for these delicious fillo fingers comes from my friend Janni Kyritsis, who uses the same technique to make simple savoury snacks filled with anchovy, feta and olives. I don’t have a very sweet tooth and I love the contrast of the salted butter and subtle sweetness of the icing sugar in these sweet ladies fingers; if you prefer a sweeter flavour add some castor sugar to the filling. Along with a short strong Middle Eastern coffee, try a nip of anisey Arak Fakra with these sweet treats.
Makes 12 pieces
Ingredients
- 3 sheets fillo pastry
- 60g slivered almonds
- 60g pitted dates
- 50g salted butter, melted
- Icing sugar, for dusting
Method
- Remove fillo pastry from the fridge and set aside in the box to come to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 150°C.
- Blitz almonds and dates together in a small food processor.
- Divide into 3 equal portions
- Place 1 sheet of pastry vertically on a clean, dry work bench (leaving the rest under a cloth to stop them drying out).
- Brush the top half of it well with butter then fold it onto the unbuttered half.
- Brush with more butter.
- Squeeze a portion of the almond and date mixture into thin logs and place them end to end along the length of the fillo about 1cm from the top.
- Roll up as tightly as possible, so it’s the thickness of a finger, and place on a baking paper-lined baking tray seam side down.
- Repeat with remaining fillo and filling.
- Brush fingers well with butter.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, until well-coloured and crisp; don’t be tempted to remove them too soon as all the layers of pastry need to cook through.
- Cut each roll into 4 pieces, dust with icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.
