Canadian Date Squares Recipes

GRAMMA'S DATE SQUARES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, combine oats, pastry flour, salt, 1 cup brown sugar, and baking soda. Mix in the butter until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch square baking pan.
• In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the dates, water, and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Bring to a boil, and cook until thickened. Stir in lemon juice, and remove from heat. Spread the filling over the base, and pat the remaining crumb mixture on top.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in preheated oven, or until top is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into squares.

DATE SQUARES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-8-by-2-inch baking pan, and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking soda. Add butter, and blend with your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Transfer two-thirds of the crumb mixture into prepared pan, and press into bottom and up sides. Spread date paste over bottom layer of the dough. Cover with remaining crumb mixture.
• Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Invert onto a plate, then back onto a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

MATRIMONIAL DATE SQUARES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat dates, 2/3 cup brown sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a saucepan over low heat; cook, stirring occasionally, until dates have softened, absorbed the liquid, and mixture is like a paste, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla extract.
• Stir oats, flour, 1 cup brown sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl; cut in butter with a knife or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Lightly press 2/3 of the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9x9-inch pan. Spread date mixture evenly over the crumb crust; sprinkle remaining crumbs evenly over the top of date mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is golden, about 30 minutes; cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour before slicing into bars.

DATE SQUARES - CANADIAN RECIPE FOR DATE BARS

Steps:

• Chop the dates up a bit and add them to the pot with water or orange juice, butter, sugar, and spices, a pinch of salt, and bring everything to a boil on medium heat. Zest the lemon and juice it. Grate the lemon zest straight into the measured out sugar you are going to use for the crumble crust. Rub it in using your fingers so that the peel lets go of its oil and the sugar gets all aromatic and lemony.
• Add lemon juice to the date filling and continue to boil the date filling until nice and thick. Watch if well so that it doesn't burn or stick to the pan. Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Let cool.
• Preheat the oven to 356 F (180C). Line a (23 x 33 cm) baking tin with baking paper.
• Add all dry ingredients for the crust to a bowl. Grate the ice-cold butter right into the dry ingredients using a box grater. Rub everything together quickly to form streusel.
• Add half of the streusel dough to the pan and press down and into the edges to form a crust. Spread date filling on top. Sprinkle remaining streusel on top. Gently press down to compact the top crust a bit. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until the streusels are golden brown. Should the topping brown too quickly, cover with some aluminum foil.
• Let cool down completely before cutting into squares.

VEGAN DATE SQUARES (DATE CRUMBLE SLICE)

Steps:

• Option 1: Soak the dates in a large bowl, fully submerged in water, until soft (at least 4 hours, but overnight is best). Once soaked, drain away the soaking liquid and puree your dates in a food processor. I like a mostly smooth texture with a few smaller pieces of date throughout, but puree to your desired consistency.
• Option 2: If you don't have a food processor or time to wait for dry dates to soak, you can cook the dates in a small pot. This waters down the flavor of the dates, but you may enjoy a slightly less sweet filling anyway.For this option, add dates to a pot with water. Cook over low heat until the dates are soft and you can mash with a fork (press dates into the side of the pot to mash). This option also creates a more textured filling because the dates won't be pureed.
• To make the crumble, add rolled oats, lightly packed brown sugar and whole wheat flour. Stir until well combined.
• Add vegan butter or margarine to the dry mixture and use a fork or your hand to mix the butter throughout, creating a crumbly mixture.
• Grease a 9x13" baking dish (with extra vegan butter/ margarine or cooking spray).
• Pour about ⅔ of the crumble mixture into the bottom of your baking dish and press down firmly, creating an evenly packed layer.
• Spread the dates evenly over your pressed crumble. It's best to scoop small amounts of date puree all over the base layer to make it easier to spread.
• Sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture over your layer of dates and lightly press down.
• Bake in an oven preheated to 350 °F for 30-35 minutes, until the top is slightly golden brown and the bottom is fully golden brown (if you have a glass baking dish you can look at the bottom).
• Cool completely before you slice into squares or slices and serve at room temperature.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days on the counter or a week in the fridge. You can also freeze this recipe.

DATE BARS, MATRIMONIAL CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400
• Combine dates, water, and 1/4 cup sugar over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes
• Cool 5 minutes
• Grease the bottom and sides of 13×9-inch pan
• Cream the brown sugar and butter until well mixed
• Stir in flour, oats, baking soda and salt until crumbly
• Press half of the crumb mixture evenly in bottom of pan
• Spread the date mixture over the bottom crust
• Top with remaining crumb mixture; press lightly
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown
• Cool 5 minutes in pan
• Cut into 6 rows by 6 rows while warm

DATE SQUARES

Steps:

• For the date filling: Combine the dates, water, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice in a medium saucepan, stirring often, until thick and smooth, about ten minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• In a mixing bowl cream butter, then cream in sugar.
• In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
• Blend flour mixture into the butter mixture, then blend in the rolled outs.
• Grease a square Pyrex baking dish 8x8 inches/2L (I use a square baking pan of the same size).
• Put half the rolled oats mixture evenly over the bottom. Spread the cooled dates over the base. Then add the remaining rolled oats mixture over the dates.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until nice and brown.
• Cool in pan. Cut into squares or bars.
• It can be frozen, but in my house it's usually gone within the next few days.