Recipes

[Sammijo10]

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!

[Just Bling]

Probably Betty Crocker's (not made anymore)

or

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)

[brewhaha]

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

[RespectLife]

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!

[nomless]

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.

[Scooby Doo]

<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

[harley22]

I r

[NaturalBornWoman]

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.

[NaturalBornWoman]

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

make these a lot too in Winter months

[tkins]

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