Date Bars Recipe

In Duff Bakes  by Duff Goldman and Sara Gonzales, Sara talks about eating date bars as a child.  I don't know if it was because I grew up on the opposite coast or what, but I never remember having these as a child. 

The ingredient list isn't overly long and all of the items are thinks I keep on hand.  I have to confess I did not search for Medjool Dates, but simply used what I could find at the local grocery store.  I'm sharing the recipe in the order I did the work. 


Preheat oven to 375F and grease a 9 x 13 pan.  Cut strips of parchment paper about 1 inch wider than the sides of your pan.  Line them in the pan and grease it all.  (Just keeps the date filling from sticking to the side of the pans.)

Filling
3 cups pitted chopped dates
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup of old fashioned rolled oats

Place the dates, honey, vanilla, brown sugar, and 3/4 cup of room temp water in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring often until thickened.  This takes about 10 minutes.  Let this cool for 10 minutes and while it is cooling make your crust.


Crust
2 sticks of butter, softened
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of all purpose flour

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the salt.  Gradually add the flour, mixing it as you go.  This will be a crumbly mixture.  Use your hands to press half of it into the pan and set the other half aside.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes and let it cool just a bit.

Mix the oats in the leftover crust.
Spread the date filling over the bottom crust.  Top with the oat topping...about 1/2 inch thick.  (The recipe says you won't need it all possibly, but I did.)

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool.  Cut into squares.