topic Re: Date Bars in Recipes

Date Bars

Sammijo10 — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 18:49:59 GMT

My DH has memories of his Mom (no longer with us) making these date bars from a mix (Dromedary brand?) and that he absolutely loved them as a child. First, does anyone remember the boxed 'Date Bars' mix and, second, does anyone have a good replacement recipe?

I've tried googleing and not come up with what I thought were a good replica. I'm hoping with all the vintage cookbooks among you all that I can get closer to the original.

Thanks, all. Keep 'em coming!

Re: Date Bars

Mistreatedbycs — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:25:23 GMT

Probably Betty Crocker's (not made anymore)

Krusteaz Brand of Date Bar Mix, which they don't make anymore either.

Taste of Home and Betty Crocker has recipes available. WoW, haven't made these bars in a couple years (at least)

Re: Date Bars

brewhaha — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:31:33 GMT

Sorry, I can't help you with that. I used to go to bars to try to get a date.

Re: Date Bars

RespectLife — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:39:19 GMT

On 4/29/2014 brewhaha said:
Sorry, I can't help you with that. I used to go to bars to try to get a date.

Truly, one of your best brewhaha! Thanks for the laugh!

I will look and see if I have any date bar recipes!

Edited to say SORRY! Not a one! I thought for sure I had a date bar recipe! Hopefully, someone else does!

Re: Date Bars

nomless — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 19:51:54 GMT

I haven't thought of date bars in years. I loved 'em.

This recipe on the Betty Crocker site looks like them, is probably worth a try.

Re: Date Bars

Scooby Doo — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:22:20 GMT

<h3>Classic Date Bars</h3> <h3> </h3> <h3>Ingredients</h3>

8 oz. AMPORT chopped dates (or 4 oz. prunes)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup nonfat or light sour cream

<h3>Directions</h3>

Spray a 9 inch quare baking pan with no-stick cooking spray. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dates with water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened, stirring frequently (a few minutes). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix well with a pastry blender.

Melt butter in a saucepan and remove from heat. Immediately stir in sour cream, mixing until evenly blended. Drizzle over the top of oat mixture and blend with pastry blender.

Spread 2 cups of oat mixture in bottom of prepared pan and press firmly. Spread date filling on top. Combine nuts with remaining oat mixture using a pastry blender, then pat firmly and evenly onto filling.

Bake in center of oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool. Cut into 25 squares.

I just happened to have a package of dates in my cabinet and this recipe is on the box. If you are interested in other date recipes, check out amportfoods dot com/recipes

Re: Date Bars

harley22 — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:35:03 GMT

I r

Re: Date Bars

NaturalBornWoman — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:05:42 GMT

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/date-bars/4b716ead-523c-42eb-b589-e48dc5240c3d

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/fig-bars/fb7d27c1-c0d5-4d3d-8bf9-d72e6cbe9488

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Classic-Date-Bars-109179

Above recipes are all very good - my secret ingredient is RUM (soak the dried fruit) - & sometimes use a combo of Fig and Date in same recipe.

Re: Date Bars

NaturalBornWoman — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:08:02 GMT

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/fig-and-walnut-energy-bars-recipe.html

make these a lot too in Winter months

Re: Date Bars

tkins — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:16:33 GMT

I have an old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook from the early 50's, that has 2 recipes, that might be along the lines of what you are looking for, based on information I found on the internet, I wanted to be sure I had a good idea of exactly what you were looking for, which led me to a third recipe, that is similar to my date layer bar recipe, but just different enough that I am including it too, those slight variations, may make all the difference. Just for fun, the Date Layer Bars and Easy Date Squares I copied exactly as they were written in the cookbook and are the first and second recipe. The third recipe is the similar one that I found during my research and I also included the comments since that was the reason I copied it in the first place.

Date Layer Bars

CRUST:

½ Cup Shortening or butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 ½ Cups Sifted All Purpose Flour

½ teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Salt

1 ½ Cups Quick Cooking Rolled Oats

1 Tablespoon Water

1 Recipe Date Filling (recipe follows below)

Cream together shortening and sugar. Sift dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture. Add oats and water mix until crumbly. Firmly pat one-half the mixture in greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Spread with Date Filling. Top with remaining crumbs and pat smooth. Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) about 35 minutes. Cool and cut into bars or squares. Makes 32 1 ½ inch squares.

DATE FILLING: In a saucepan combine 2 Cups Pitted Dates cut up, ½ Cup Raisins and 1 ½ Cups Water. Cover; cook, stirring often, till consistency of jam, about 8 minutes.

*******

EASY DATE SQUARES

3 Eggs

1 cup Sugar

1 Cup Packaged Biscuit Mix

½ teaspoon Salt

1 ½ Cups Chopped Pitted Dates

1 cup Broken California Walnuts

Beat eggs till light; gradually add sugar, beating till thick and lemon colored. Combine biscuit mix and salt. Stir into egg mixture. Add dates and nuts. Pour into greased 9x9x2 inch square pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 35 minutes. Cool slightly. Cut in 2-inch squares. Makes 16.

*****

Date Bars from the Past

Remember those wonderful date bars that you could make from a mix? I grew up eating these every chance I got. And now this mix is no where to be found. I found the recipe. It came from a Betty Crocker cookbook. If this isn't the same recipe, the results are just as wonderful!

Cook time: 35 Min Prep time: 15 Min Serves: 36 bars

CRUMB CRUST

1 c brown sugar, firmly packed

1 c margarine or butter

1 3/4 c all purpose flour, or wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 c cup quick cooking oats

DATE FILLING

3 c dates, chopped

1/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare Date Filling: Cook dates, 1/4 cup sugar and water over low heat about 10 minutes; stirring constantly, until thickened; set aside to cool.

Grease 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Mix brown sugar and margarine; mix in remaining ingredients until crumbly. Press ½ of the crumb mixture evenly in bottom of pan. Spread with Date Filling. Top with remaining crumb mixture; press lightly. Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until light brown; cool slightly. Cut into 2 x 1½-inch bars.

I wish lots of luck in finding a recipe that matches or is close to what he remembers.

tkins

Re: Date Bars

Sammijo10 — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 21:22:12 GMT

Thanks to everyone for their recipes! My weekend project!

Re: Date Bars

nomless — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 22:00:48 GMT

Please let us know what you try and if DH liked them.

Re: Date Bars

DiamondGirly — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 04:07:36 GMT

Here's a recipe for Date Bars that my Mother made while I was growing up. They are probably her very favorite!

Date Bars

2 eggs

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 Tbsp. shortening, melted

¼ cup sifted cake flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped dates

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs until light. Add sugar and shortening. Blend well. Sift dry ingredients together. Add dates, nuts and vanilla. Blend well and pour into greased shallow cake pan. Bake in slow oven (325º F.) about 25 minutes. Cut into bars and roll in confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 24 bars.

(This recipe is from The American Home Cookbook, a recipe book of my mom's, which she has had since 1948.)

Re: Date Bars

RespectLife — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 18:38:15 GMT

WOW EVERYONE!! Thank you! I can't wait to try these recipes!

I have 2 boxes of dates that were suppose to turn into Cuccidati Cookies, but after looking at the recipe...that is one cookie I am going to have to mooch from other people!!

NaturalBornWoman, Not only do I have dates on hand....boy do I have rum! That is a fantastic suggestion!

Thanks so much!

Re: Date Bars

RedTop — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 21:01:28 GMT

The date bar recipe from my 20th anniversary edition of United Methodist Ministers' Wives cookbook from 1955 is:

2 cups light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup butter, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup chopped dates, 1 cup nuts, and 1/4 cup hot coffee.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Dissolve baking soda in hot coffee. Blend in flour and salt. Add dates and nuts. Spread in 13x9 pan and bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.

Re: Date Bars

insomniac — Fri, 02 May 2014 12:13:04 GMT

I also appreciate all these recipes. I remember using the Betty Crocker date bar mix in my younger days: they were so great!

I wonder when they disappeared? Strange how that happens: you get so used to something being available, but then one day it's gone.

Re: Date Bars

whitelinen — Fri, 02 May 2014 20:04:09 GMT

On 4/30/2014 RedTop said:
The date bar recipe from my 20th anniversary edition of United Methodist Ministers' Wives cookbook from 1955 is:

2 cups light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup butter, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup chopped dates, 1 cup nuts, and 1/4 cup hot coffee.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Dissolve baking soda in hot coffee. Blend in flour and salt. Add dates and nuts. Spread in 13x9 pan and bake @ 350 for 30 minutes.

Thanks RedTop, I chose this one to copy. The UM Ministers Wives knew what they were doing in 1955!

Re: Date Bars

nomless — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 21:33:48 GMT

This morning, I made the Betty Crocker classic date bar recipe and was thrilled that it's a dead ringer for the discontinued box mix we love and miss. It's very easy, and the result is great. The recipe is posted above in post #9. It's the last recipe in tkins' post.

Re: Date Bars

kjg — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 22:04:24 GMT

I sure do remember these date bars from the mix. My Mom and Dad had 5 kids and my Grandma lived with us. My Mom made a dessert every day and we begged for these. My Dad would buy 10 boxes at a time and they would keep them in the freezer. I tried to find them after I had my own family and could not locate them at all. I remember my oldest brother thought they were his alone, and he could polish off the entire pan by himself, in a matter of hours.

Re: Date Bars

nomless — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 22:48:59 GMT

Kjg, give the Betty Crocker ones a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised how spot on they are to the ones you remember. I used the dates that come in a box. They have sugar on them, so I reduced the amount of sugar I used when I cooked them. They break down as they cook. The texture ends up being just like it was in the box mix. The crumb crust / topping is also remarkably similar.