Date Bars

Submitted by Leahs Kitchen

"Similar to fig newtons but with dates! It uses honey to sweeten it instead of sugar which compliments the dates nicely. This recipe is from the American Wholefoods Cuisine cookbook."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 25 bars
• Serves: 25

ingredients

• For the Filling

• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons honey

• For the Crust

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄3 cup oil
• 1⁄4 cup honey

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Stir in oil and honey until well blended together.
3. Combine dates and water and simmer in a saucepan for about 5 minutes until soft and thick.
4. Stir in honey.
5. Pat only half of the crust into a greased 8x8 square pan making a thin layer all the way to the edges.
6. Spread date filling over the crust smoothing it out so it covers all of the crust beneath it.
7. Pat the remaining crust out on wax paper and transfer ontop of the date filling, remove wax paper.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes untili firm and golden.
9. Cool in pan.
10. Cut in small squares to serve. Enjoy!

Reviews

[CarrolJ]

These bars were a disappointment. They were too dry and tasted mostly like flavorless crust. I dribbled extra honey on the top after tasting and they were more palatable. Made for ZWT #6 - 2010.

 

[J-Lynn]

Oops- shouldn't have messed with the recipe. I ground the oats in food processor, but the result was a crust much too dry. Good flavor; I might try again. I could only eat these warm with milk.

 

[Jeri Roth Lande]

I liked these, but they weren't quite what I was expecting. I made them for a Rosh Hashanah dessert and they didn't seem quite rich enough. However, they were great for breakfast and snacks the next day. I would say they remind me of a good chewy granola bar.<br/><br/>I doubled the recipe and that worked fine. The only other change was that I "cooked" the dates and water in the microwave instead of on the stove.

 

[mersaydees]

These are definitely different! I found them a bit challenging because the ratios of crust to filling wasn't quite enough for my 8x8-inch pan. The layers were so thin that I believe it led to them overbaking a bit even though I didn't exceed the bake time. Also, I'm out of honey so I used agave nectar and they benefitted from that extra bit of sweetness! Thanks, Leah's Kitchen! Made for N*A*M*E tag game.

 

[loof751]

I love dates and these bars are really good! I worked the crust ingredients with my hands and was able to get a nice smooth and moist crust. I made half a recipe and cooked it 20 minutes. Very tasty - thanks for posting the recipe!