They're available in all shapes and sizes these days. Plump, shrivelled, dried, fresh, juicy, Egyptian, Californian, take your pick. If dates were human, there'd be no singles left on this earth.
It was quite timely, therefore, that SUGAR, on AFC, featured Dates as the main ingredient. Today, (I can hear Anna Olson speaking) we're going to use Dates. While she is no Nigella, (or not endowed like Nigella), I quite enjoy her cook show coz the stuff looks fairly easy to do, AND some of it actually looks rather delicious. You know how there are some cook shows you wonder why you even bother watching, coz the stuff they churn out looks like something you'd cook when you're a poor student who's one stop short of going to a soup kitchen.
Anyway, her two date recipes featured date squares and date crostada. The latter actually looked more delicious, but date squares sound so easy to make. And they ARE:
The recipe can be found here, but if you're like me, and too lazy to click on links, then I shall do you a favour by plagiarising it and reproducing it here.
3 cups pitted dates. (I just used the generic cheap ones, coz they're gonna be mashed up. No Bateels or Medjuls here)
Zest of 1 orange
1 cup water
25 gm butter (ah, see, my plagiarism has benefits for the metricly inclined...her measurements of butter are in cups and spoons).
Chuck the entire list of ingredients into a pot, and cook until boiling. Remove from heat, and blitz in a blender or processor. Contrary to her recipe, I didnt bother waiting for it to cool down.
For the base and topping,
2 ½ cups rolled oats
1 ¼ cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
125gm unsalted butter, melted
Now I actually ended up thinking this wasnt enough. I might change it to 3 cups oats, 1½ cups flour, and 150 gm butter the next time.
Now, its unbelievably easy. Just chuck dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, and add the melted butter, like glue, to bind it all together. This can be done by stirring, or ....stirring.
Line an 8" square thin, with parchment overhanging on all four sides. I tried to save parchment, by overhanging on just two sides, north and south, ignoring east and west. I later on had difficulty removing it, coz the dates were sticky, (like some girlfriends), and clung on to the edges of the unlined tin. Hence, it is better to use protection, rather than get stuck with the sticky date.
Line the base of the tin with 2/3rds of the oat flour mixture. Spread the layer of the mashed dates evenly over the biscuit base, and sprinkle remaining oats as topping. Bake in 180C oven for about 40 minutes. Leave to cool in pan before removing.
Now, if you like dates, you'll probably like this, but warning, it does tend to be on the sweet side, but nothing that can't be countered with a cup of strong americano or espresso, with NO sugar. Mmm, sadly, no one ELSE in MY family is a date fan, so, I've been scoffing these for breakfast. Sigh, since no one else in my family likes dates, it also means it's unlikely I'll make them again. Which is a pity, because I'm sure all those oats, and fibre from the dates, is really good for toileting.
If you want to be really decadent, (which I have not been), plonk on a dollop of clotted cream to combat the sweetness.
If you want to be really decadent, (which I have not been), plonk on a dollop of clotted cream to combat the sweetness.
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