At some point when I was a teen, my parents accidentally bought a skid of dates at auction. Yes: a skid. I made a lot of date squares that year, which was fine by all of us; they never lasted long. I was a date square machine! (Is that something I should actually be proud of?)
Once I moved out on my own, I never made them since they are atrociously high-calorie. Then, somehow, the recipe was lost. Gasp! Fifteen years of looking and it still hasn’t turned up. But—about five years ago—my mother stumbled on an older version of the original recipe, written out old style: basically a listing of ingredients with virtually no instructions. It’s not quite as good as what I grew up on, but decent all the same. Here is that original recipe, with a few extra notes by me.
1 lb dates, pitted
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup boiling water
Combine in a saucepot and cook well. The dates should be softened and the sauce thick.
2 cups rolled oats
1¾ cups AP flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
Cut together all ingredients. Press half the oat mixture into an 8 x 8 pan (lined with parchment if desired), then all of the date mixture (wet hands makes spreading the dates easier), then the remainder of the oat mixture. Bake 20 minutes in a moderate oven (350 to 400°F will do the trick). Allow to cool completely before cutting.
