Christmas lights all around main streets, Christmas Music in the malls, Christmas ads on websites – it really makes me excited for one of my favourite holidays of the year!! And just like that we’ve rolled into December. Dried fruit and nuts are predominant star of many European Christmas treats I grew up with. Treats such as mince pies, christmas stollen, panettone, chocolate fruit and nut bars and more adorned the windows of grocery stores and malls.

As I think all the festive dishes and meals one of the most “Christmassy” treats perhaps for me and my sisters are date and walnut bars. The flavor and taste of  the sticky, sweet, caramel-ly dates and cinnamon is such a comforting and familiar flavor from this festive season. The combination of dates and walnuts strike such a nice balance of textures as well – soft and crunchy.

The great thing about medjool dates is that they are naturally super sweet and also very sticky so its not only a sweetener but also a natural binder. As we experimented with this recipe we were determined to be make it as easy, tasty and of course allergy friendly as possible – so this is both gluten-free and vegan. I personally don’t bake a lot with dates because they tend to be quite expensive. However I love this dessert so much and because it is really a holiday treat – we’re treating ourselves here 🙂

This is a really rich treat, so you an enjoy small slices of this, but it is pretty addicting.

Oatmeal Date Bars

 

Save Print

Author: Unconventional Cooks

Serves: 12-16

Ingredients

• Oat crust:
• 1⅓ cup oat flour, firmly pack down (not store brought)
• 1½ cup whole rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 4 oz medjool dates, with pits (around 8 pieces, 100g without pits)
• 1 cup walnuts (50g) halves
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½+2 tbsp apple sauce (can add 1 more tbsp if too dry)
• 4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• Date layer:
• 12 oz medjool dates, with pits (or 300g dates without pits)*
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• ½ cup water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare a 8 x8" pan and line a piece of parchment paper.
2. Crumble: Before starting (and while your food processor is clean), if your have halved or whole walnuts, pulse until broken into smaller pieces. Set aside for later.
3. Next, add oat flour, pitted dates, shredded coconut, melted coconut oil, sea salt and baking soda in the food processor. Process until the dates are broken up.
4. Add the whole oats, walnuts and applesauce.Briefly pulse just enough to mix in and to retain textures.
5. Reserve ½ cup of the cookie base to use as the crumble topping. Divide the remaining cookie base into half.. Use half of the batter to make a ½" base layer. Pack it down firmly with your fingers.
6. Date jam: In the same food processor, add all the ingredients for the filling (including the pitted dates) and blend. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides in between periodically to help your machine and blend until mostly smooth (you will some chunks but it should spread easily).
7. Spread the date jam on top of the base.
8. Crumble chunks of the remaining oatmeal mixture over the top of the date layer for the topping.
9. Bake for 15 minutes.
10. Let it cool completely, before cutting. It can keep in the freezer for up to 2 months or in the fridge for a week.

Notes

**Note: if you are using fridges dates, you may want to microwave for 15-20 seconds so that it is easier to blend

3.5.3251

LOVE,

Zoe, Mia & Raena