I’ve been struggling to get time to write the last few weeks/months. Summer has been super busy. I just got back from an epic vacation in Thailand. My mum’s whole family had a reunion there – 76 of us to be precise. 10 days, 3 cities and lots of planning that went into it and I was smack in the middle of it. So I’ve hardly had time to bake, blog and write about anything. But I’m picking up now and hope I can start getting back to being regular.
I’ve had an insane amount of dates in my house recently. Luckily they don’t go bad, otherwise that would have been a lot of dates going to waste. I’ve been looking for things to bake and use it for so I can have it consumed in bulk. Unfortunately, given the sweet level, large amounts of dates can’t be used in any recipe so you may see multiple date entries in my attempt to finish them off 🙂
We were recently invited to a colleagues place for a BBQ over the weekend and for the kids to get together and play. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to make a large quantity of date bars. I hadn’t made them in a while, but good quality dates, thick crust and crunchy topping all put together turned out great.
Doesn’t take long to make, but does require a few steps to get it altogether.
Filling:
1 1/2C dates
5tbsp water
Base:
2 C oats
2 C flour
1 1/2 C dark brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 C cold butter
Crumble topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
12 tbsp cold butter
2/3 cup oats
Directions
- Boil water and dates together until dates, set aside
- Combine all the base ingredients and let the butter melt with the heat of your finger tips and help to come together
- Spread the base over the pan evenly and top with the dates
- Combine all the crumble ingredients into a food processor and combine, just blitz so it comes together to form crumbles and not a paste
- Sprinkle over the top of the dates and bake for 30 mins
