Grandmother’s Date Bars 2.0

Date Filling:

1 pound pitted dates, chopped
1½ cups water
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Cookie Mixture:

1½ cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup organic coconut spread, room temperature
1 1/3 cups quick-cooking oats
½ cup ground toasted pecans or walnuts

Put dates and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is the consistency of marmalade, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool. Stir in orange juice.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom of a 9- x 13-inch metal pan with coconut spread. Line the pan with parchment paper, using enough to have some paper come up and over the sides. Lightly grease the parchment that lines the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together into a large mixing bowl. Use your clean fingers to mix in the brown sugar. Add chunks of coconut spread to bowl. Once again, use your fingers to work the coconut spread into the dry ingredients until you create a crumbly consistency. Add oats and mix.

Firmly pat 3 cups of the cookie mixture into the prepared pan. Spoon date filling on the cookie layer and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining cookie mixture over the filling. Bake for 30 minutes in preheated 325-degree oven. Remove from oven. Sprinkle hot bars with ground nuts. Allow bars to cool in pan. Carefully pull the cooled bars out of the pan, using the excess parchment paper as handles. Cut into 20 to 24 bars.

Tips from the cook

To toast walnuts or pecans, arrange in a single layer on a baking pan. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 8 minutes, or until they are golden and fragrant. Remove from oven and immediately transfer nuts to a plate to cool.

The one pound of dates called for in this recipe is the weight of dates after they have had pits removed.

Find white whole wheat flour in all well-stocked grocery stores.

I found earth balance organic coconut spread in the refrigerated case with other non-dairy spreads.

- Recipe courtesy of Sue Doeden