Date Nut Bars

I feel like any recipe that uses dates has a hint of the old-fashioned. Dates are a fabulous thing and I have visited a date farm in California, but they don’t seem to be used in recipes all that much. I do see dates in different British recipes, and I had purchased some dates for some fudge I was making. I wanted to use the remaining dates before they got hard, so I decided on these date nut bars.

The original recipe calls these Chinese Chews, and as previously mentioned, they are a classic 1917 recipe from the blogger’s grandmother. I’m not sure if there is any Chinese connection to these cookies, or if that’s just a name that was used, so I am going to call these simply date nut bars. They are very simple, and I made the recipe with one bowl and no mixer. I didn’t want to overwork the dough, so that seemed like a good recommendation from the original baker.

In the original recipe, it goes into quite a lot of detail in how to cut up dates. Dates are about the stickiest thing on earth, and my solution to this is to but chopped dates. They may not stay fresh quite as long, but anything is worth not having to chop dates! I made the dough in the time it took to heat up my lunch, and then they baked for 35 minutes. So easy. These bars are classic, and I feel like dates are forgotten for the most part in the realm of baking. That’s really unfortunate because dates are hard to beat!

Date Nut Bars
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounces diced, pitted dates
1 cup chopped nuts
Powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Once combined, add the eggs and the vanilla, and whisk to incorporate. Switch to a spatula and add the flour and salt. When the flour is almost fully incorporated, add the diced dates and chopped nuts and stir to combine.

Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan. The dough is sticky, and I found that spreading the dough with my damp hands worked best.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden and set along the edges. Allow the bars to cool in the pan, and then lift from the pan by the aluminum foil. Peel away the foil and dust the top of the bars with powdered sugar. Cut into squares when completely cool.

Recipe from Cooking with Mamma C