Oat Date Bars

Date filling:
1 ¼ c. dates
½ c. water
¼ c. sugar
1 T. lemon juice

Cookie base:
¾ c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ c. flour
1 c. old-fashioned oats

Combine filling ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until dates are soft.

Meanwhile cream butter, brown sugar and salt. Blend in flour and oats until particles are fine. Press 2/3 of crumbs into bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch pan. Spread with filling. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs; press down lightly.

Bake 350˚ 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into bars.

Date Bars

I used Medjool Dates from the date farm. Any dates will do! The most common dates from the grocery store are Deglet Noor.
1 egg
½ c. sugar
½ c. butter, melted
1 c. chopped dates
¼ c. chopped pecans
½ c. flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 325˚. Mix egg, sugar and melted butter in a medium bowl. Add dates and nuts. Mix together flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl. Add to date mixture. Stir until just mixed. Spread into a greased 8 x 8 inch pan. Bake 30 minutes at 325˚ or until done. Cool. Cut into bars. Roll in powdered sugar.

How 'bout a date??

I have a new appreciation for dates!! We recently toured Shield's Date Garden near Palm Springs, CA. www.shieldsdategarden.com They have about 17 varieties of dates to sample. Yum! There is a video where the story of dates is told. Many man-hours go into date production. The 40 feet or higher trees must be climbed (ladders are permanently attached to some trees)to be hand pollinated. As the fruit begins to grow on the trees, they must be climbed again, thinned (to improve quality and size of dates)and covered with bags to protect the fruit. When the fruit is ready to pick, it does not all ripen at the same time, so the trees must be climbed and reclimbed many times. A single tree can produce 100 pounds or more per year, and may bear for a hundred years. I'll be making date bars soon and will share the recipe!