Delectable Date Bars

• 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup butter, softened

• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9” by 9” metal baking pan.

Line pan with foil; grease foil. Set aside.  In large bowl, with hand, mix flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until mixture comes together.

Put two cups of mixture in baking pan; set aside the remaining mixture to use for the topping.  Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.  

Cool completely on a wire rack.  Prepare date filling.

Date Filling:

• 10 oz. pitted dates, chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

While the oat crust is cooling, in a 2-quart saucepan, cook dates, brown sugar and ¾ cup water over medium heat until mixture thickens and all liquid is absorbed.  This usually takes about 6 to 8 minutes.  Stir frequently.  

Refrigerate the date filling until cool; usually takes about 30 minutes.  When cool; spread the filling over the oat crust, then put the topping mixture that was set aside on top of the date filling.  

Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the topping is golden.  

Cool completely on wire rack.  Using the greased foil on the bottom of the pan makes cutting the bars easy: just remove from pan to a cutting board and cut.  

Makes 1 dozen bars.

Date Bars just have to be my all time favorite!  When I visited my daughter and her family when they lived in Canada, I couldn’t believe you could buy date bars in the bakeries and grocery stores—Yummmm!  I love that date/oatmeal combo.  This recipe works great when doubled and baked in a 9 by 13 inch pan.