Homemade Date Bars

So I had some dates in the pantry from a Morrocan dish I made recently and I was looking for a way to use them in something else. 

At first I thought I'd probably find bread of some kind but as I started looking through recipes I kept seeing different versions of date bars and they sounded like a winner.

This is my version of them and we thought they turned out really well. It's a little something different from our usual but it was very yummy and I felt it could be classified with some good nutritional value since it had fruit in it! :)

I realized I didn't take any photos of the finished product, but I got a couple of the assembly.

 Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter softened

1/2 lb pitted dates, diced

1 cup water

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp almond extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In large bowl combine oats, flour, salt, baking soda and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Then mix in butter until crumbly.

Press half or a little more of the mixture into the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square pan and bake for about 10-15 minutes (until starting to brown around edges).

In a small saucepan over medium heat combine the diced dates (I used kitchen scissors to cut them up - much easier than chopping!), water and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened.

Stir in almond extract (you can use lemon juice if you prefer or don't have almond extract) and remove from heat.

Spread filling over baked crumb mixture base.

Spreading the date mixture in the middle

Then sprinkle remaining crumb mixture all of the top and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until top is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting.

Happy Baking!