Oatmeal Date Bars

Oatmeal Date Bars – dawns-ad-lib.com®

We LOVE dates here. And they’re plentiful, with having so many date palms in Arizona. There’s even Dateland Arizona . That being said, I’m sure they’re readily available in grocery stores. Speaking of grocery stores, I was surprised to find a “date paste” or vacuum sealed package of already pureed dates in a favorite Middle Eastern market here! So I’m trying that out here for the first time. I grabbed it and told my daughter, “Wow, check it out! They did the date process for me. Yay! This should work really well for date bars,” 😜 🤞So… it is really thick. I added about a tablespoon of water and heated it all to make it more pliable. Also, I (maybe unnecessarily) added a tablespoon of brown sugar 🤭 Dates are sweet on their own. I just knew it wouldn’t hurt any. Going by the recipe I originally used, with the sugar added, I thought, why not. 😋

Oatmeal Date Bars

OATMEAL DATE BARS

1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. butter, melted

Mix and spread 2/3 of mixture in a 9×13″ (or 8×8 inch if you want thicker/deeper bars) baking pan. Pat down.

1/2 c. sugar
1 c. water
2 c. dates, chopped

I put above ingredients in saucepan to heat sugar, water and dates together until it thickens, then pour into food processor or blender. It’s HOT. blended pretty good, lumps are fine.

Spread over oatmeal mixture. Spread the remaining oatmeal mixture over dates; I used my hand to evenly distribute, then lightly pat to even it out. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes. Cut while warm.