It was snowing this morning. This was a great distraction from the pandemic which is now just a normal part of our lives. Ignacio and I took a short walk in the snow and it was in fact glorious. I think it was nice just to see and do something different. Even though it was the same sidestreets we were walking on they were at least sidestreets covered with snow.

It’s January and it’s that time of the year where I want to start afresh and I am a little bit more motivated to declutter. This year I thought I would start with the freezer. It has been successful, we have eaten all of the frozen meat, fish and most of the frozen vegetables. I have now moved to the top shelf of the fridge, which for some reason has packets of dried apricots, dates and prunes. They seem to have been there for a supiciously long time and needed to move. I chose to start with the dates and found an easy recipe online .

It’s a very easy recipe to execute and the finished date squares/slice are quite nice, sweet and crunchy, perfect with a cup of tea. I think that the remaining prunes and apricot might end up in some similiar baked good creation.

INGREDIENTS

Filling

• 2 1/2 cups (425 g) Medjool dates, pitted and chopped (lightly packed)
• 1 cup (250 ml) water
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Crisp

• 1 3/4 cups (175 g) quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup (150 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup (160 g) brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup (170 g) semi-salted butter, softened

PREPARATION

1. With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a 20-cm (8-inch) square baking dish with a strip of parchment paper, letting it hang over both sides. Butter the other two sides.

Filling

2. In a pot, bring the dates, water, lemon juice, and brown sugar to a boil. Add the baking soda and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, or until the dates have fallen apart. Let cool.

Crisp

3. In a bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, and baking powder. Add the butter and stir to combine.
4. Spread half the crisp in the baking dish and press firmly. Layer with the date mixture. Cover with the remaining crisp and press lightly. Bake for 55 minutes or until the crisp is golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack for 4 hours. Unmould and cut into 16 squares.

NOTE

If you can’t find Medjool dates, use regular dried dates.

Reference: Date squares (the best)