Sweet Kleijah with dates

To prepare the dough, place the flour in a large bowl, add salt and cardamom then add the margarine and knead well.

Dissolve the yeast in little water and add it to the mixture, then start kneading with the hands while adding the milk gradually until we have firm dough. Leave the dough to rise for 20min.

Prepare the filling meanwhile. Fry the dates with oil over medium heat and stir until it becomes like a dough then remove it from heat.

Add the cardamom to the fried dates and knead together. Set the filling aside to cool.

To prepare the kleijah, divide the dough into medium sized balls to make wide kleijah finger-like pieces. Then press your finger into the center of each dough ball while turning the dough in the palm of your other hand. This way a hole is formed in the middle of the dough. Fill the hole with the date filling then close the dough around it.

Shape the filled kleijah balls with your hands into large finger-like pieces.

Place the filled kleijah fingers in an oven pan sprayed with little oil or butter and bake at 180⁰c until it turns lightly brown.

Serve cold. You can add sugar syrup or eat it as it is.