Baked ricotta, orange blossom and date pie

This pie is very close to being my absolute favourite in the book. I love the classic Middle Eastern pairing of orange blossom and dates. There is a natural sweetness to the dates that means the pie filling doesn’t need to be overly sweet. I also love the pattern we created on top of the pie. We had seen a photo of a cheesecake a while ago, which at first glance looked as though its filling had been piped into the pastry case in a circular fashion and then baked to create a beautiful tan-brown top on it. Then we realised it wasn’t piping that had created the pattern but rather turning the cheesecake upside down straight out of the oven onto a circular wire rack to cool. We couldn’t turn our pie upside-down because of the biscuit crumbs, so we decided to put a wire rack on top of the pie and weigh it down to create its distinct criss-cross pattern. Of course, this is not an essential step in the recipe but I think it creates such a visual talking point you’d be crazy not to.