The use of coffee and orange juice and zest in the date filling adds extra flavor to these squares. The coffee flavor enhances the dates, so you will taste the dates, not the coffee. These are great for the freezer.
Author: KetchupWith That
Ingredients
2cupschopped pitted dates
1cupcold coffee
2tablespoonsbrown sugar
1/4cuporange juice
1teaspoonorange zest
1tablespoonlemon juice
1-1/4cupswhole wheat flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspoonsalt
1/3cupbutter. melted
1/3olive oil
1-1/4cuprolled oats
1/2cupbrown sugar
Instructions
Lightly grease an 9x9-inch baking pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
For the filling, combine dates, coffee, 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until dates are soft and can be mashed with a spoon (about 10 minutes). The mixture should be soft and spreadable, but still a bit runny. Don't overcook it, as the mixture will thicken when squares are baking.
Remove from the heat and add lemon juice, orange juice and orange zest.
Let mixture cool.
For the base and crumb topping: Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda salt and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Stir in melted butter and olive oil. Mix until all of the flour is moistened.
Stir in rolled oats and mix until crumbly.
Press half of the mixture into prepared pan. Pat it down firmly in pan.
Spread cooled date mixture evenly over bottom layer.
Cover the dates with the remaining crumb mixture and press down lightly.