Originally posted October 03, 2011

Date Bars

Date Bars by car2ngrl

One of my on-going projects is documenting my and my husband's family trees. As I interview relatives about family and the past, the one question I like to ask is for people to provide food memories. Often an item of food or a meal is a great way to share a story or complete a mood.

For me, when I think of my father, I can't help but think of his favorite desserts. In this case, date bars made from the Betty Crocker mix that you would pick up from the store. Or at least you use to be able to pick it up. It was discontinued in the early 2000s.

I guess if you look or wish hard enough, you will finally find what you're looking for because I just realized that Betty Crocker has published the recipe online. AWESOME!

Ingredients

  • FILLING:
  • 1 lb pitted dates, chopped*
  • 1-1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup sugar*
  • CRUST:
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1-3/4 cups flour
  • 1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • *I used a food processor to chop my dates. However, if you use sugar-coated, pre-chopped dates, you may want to consider using less sugar.
12-15 servings

Directions

Preheat oven to 400ยบ.

In a saucepan, combine the filling ingredients and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes -- stirring constantly. Once thickened, allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan.

Cream butter then add brown sugar. Once mixed well, add the rest of the dry ingredients until crumbly.

Press half of the crust evenly in bottom of pan. Spread with filling. Top with remaining mixture; press lightly.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool 5 minutes in pan on cooling rack.

about an hour

Comments

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  • commented over 12 years ago

    Everyone needs a project!

  • commented over 12 years ago

    So this was pretty good. However, this was more buttery then what I remembered. Plus the date layer seemed thicker and...I possibly "fresher". Which isn't bad. But I think I need to tweak things in order to achieve the original flavor. Some how increase the crust ratio by about 25% and chopping the dates finer to achieve more of paste texture.

    Also, looking at the original ingredient list...
    Sugar, Dried Dates, Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mono-nitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, Rolled Oats, Coconut, Nonfat Milk, Wheat Starch, Dried Honey, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Mono and Diglycerides

    Notice the coconut and honey? I think I'm going to need to incorporate these flavors somehow.

    Oh well...something for another weekend.

Adapted from

Betty Crocker

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