Two Cups Flour

Make Shortbread Dough
1 Place softened butter, granulated, and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream together to form a fluffy paste, about 2 minutes.
2 Scrape the bottom and side of the bowl with a silicone spatula. Add the citrus zest, vanilla, and almond extract, mixing again to combine.
3 On medium-low speed spoon in the flour and mix to form a buttery dough. It will start looking like buttery crumbs, but will come together into a cookie dough in just a minutes. Scrape any flour that's stuck at the bottom.
4 Add the chopped dates and pecans for a couple of spins. Just enough to distribute, without overworking the dough. 
Shape & Chill
6 Scrape the dough onto a work surface, knead slightly to pack the dough into a ball. Weigh and divide the dough into two halves. Roll each half into log about 2-inches in diameter and 9-inches long. **You can roll it into one large log, but I find it easier to work with two that are the same size.
7 Pour the demerara sugar into a shallow flat plate or onto a piece of parchment paper. Carefully roll the dough logs into the sugar for an even coating. Gently pat the sugar into the dough.
8 Cover the logs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight to firm. Shortbread dough must be very cold before slicing and baking.
Slice & Bake
10 Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃) and line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper.
11 Remove one log of dough from the fridge and slice into 1/2-inch rounds using a large sharp knife. I sometimes trim off the ends, before cutting rounds for neater slices. Arrange the cookies on the baking pan 1-2 inches apart.
12 Place the pan on the middle oven rack and bake for 12-14 minutes until the bottom edges are starting to lightly brown and the tops of the cookies are matte and no longer shiny.
13 Place pan on cooling rack for about 10 minutes before carefully transferring baked cookies directly into a wire rack to cook completely.