TGIF! Thank Goodness it’s Friday! Happy 21 days until Christmas! I have a scrumptious dessert for you to try making this weekend. Date-Filled Bars are oat and date filled treats that I would say is healthy if it didn’t have 3/4 cups sugar.
I could have tried a better tea with this, but I made my own mixture of Rooibos tea with dried blueberries, dried strawberries, and dried apple. The fruit was great with the date filled bars, but I’m not sure rooibos tea was the best option. Oh well! Enjoy your Friday folks!
Date-Filled Bars:
1 cup (about 1/2 pound) finely chopped pitted dates
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (I left out since I’m allergic and it still tastes great!)
1/2 cup flour
1 cup uncooked oatmeal (I used quick baking oats)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick or 1/2 cup) butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use 8 inch square baking pan. Combine the dates, 1/4 cup of the brown sugar, and the water in a small saucepan, and cook over moderate heat for about 5 minutes, until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and almond extracts, then set aside to cool.
Combine and stir the flour, oatmeal, remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, the baking soda, and salt. Add the butter and mix thoroughly. Press half the mixture evenly over the bottom of the baking pan, spread with the date filling, then sprinkle evenly with the remaining oatmeal mixture and press gently into dates. Bake about 30 minutes.
