When I just had one child, I had all the time in the world—I organized play dates, matched outfits, and made homemade meals all the time. Instead of buying store-bought cookies and treats, I would bake homemade ones. I used to make oatmeal date squares and other treats for my oldest son all the time. I even experimented with making granola “balls”. That recipe was very time-consuming and involved rolling hot granola mixture into balls with my hands super speedily so that I didn’t burn myself 😛 Now that I have three children, I cannot leisurely bake as much anymore. But I still like to bake them semi-healthy treats as much as possible.
I haven’t made this Memorable Dish for awhile. While sifting through my printed recipes, I came across this one. The original recipe I found said to cook the dates with sugar but I found it unnecessary because the dates are sweet enough already. I cut down the amount of sugar from the original recipe to our family’s taste because I usually find baked goods recipes super sweet for me.
This oatmeal date squares recipe is fairly easy to make and a great nut-free snack to bring to school. Now with three children, I don’t know how long these oatmeal date squares will last! That’s why I cut them smaller to make them seem to last longer 😉
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pitted Dates, chopped
- 3/4 cup Water
- 1 1/2 cups Oats
- 1 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/3 cup Butter, melted
- 1 Egg
Preparation
- Position rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a small pot, combine dates and water. Bring the liquid to a boil.
- Once the water comes to a boil, turn down heat and uncover pot.
- Cook date mixture for approximately 5 minutes or until it’s thickened.
- Stir and mash up dates while they’re cooking. Turn off heat once the liquid has evaporated.
- In large bowl, mix oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt until combined.
- Stir in melted butter and egg until everything is blended.
- In a buttered 8-inch square pan, pat half of the oat mixture on the bottom.
- Spread the date mixture onto the oat mixture carefully.
- Then gently pat the remaining oat mixture over the date mixture.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly brown.
- Cool on a rack and cut into squares.
Notes
If I remember and have time, I bake the squares for 15 minutes and then rotate the pan and bake for another 15 minutes. This helps to cook it evenly.
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