Date Squares
Servings: 24 squares
Ingredients
- 210 g white spelt flour
- 30 g corn flour
- 210 g rolled oats
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes or ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp bi carb soda
- 400 g coconut palm sugar or rapadura sugar
- 220 g coconut oil does not need to be melted
- zest of 2 lemons I use a zester to remove skin
- 60 g lemon juice
- 500 g pitted dates cut into half to ensure there are no pips
- 320 g filtered water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C fan forced
- Grease and line 20cm x 30cm slice tin, extending the baking paper over the wider edge of the tin (this will help with removing baked slice)
- Place flour, corn flour, oats, salt, bi carb soda and sugar into TM bowl and mix 6 seconds / speed 4
- Add coconut oil and mix 40 seconds / Reverse / speed 5 (do not clean bowl)
- Divide oat mixture in half - mix should weigh approximately 1070g, so use 550g on base and the rest on top
- Set aside one half for topping, and press the other half firmly into base of slice tin (use back of spoon to get it even)
- Bake for 15 minutes until golden
- As base is baking, prepare filling: place lemon zest, juice, pitted dates and water into TM bowl and cook 8 minutes / Veroma / speed 1 / MC off / basket on top
- Once base is removed from oven, spread date mix evenly over base
- Crumble remaining oat mixture over top lightly pressing it into the date mix (I use the back of a spoon to even it out)
- Bake for 15 minutes, turn tray around and continue for another 10 minutes until golden brown
- Remove slice from oven and allow to cool for an hour, then refrigerate for two hours to get cold before attempting to remove from tin (this will help firm up the slice making it easier to remove)
- Carefully remove slice from tin by lifting the extended baking paper on one side so that it lifts out in one piece with the baking paper supporting it
- Place slice (still sitting on baking paper) onto board and cut into desired amounts with a sharp knife (I like to cut it into 24 squares) wiping the knife on kitchen paper between cuts to get nice even edges
- Best stored in fridge where it will keep for up to a week
Notes
I have long been a fan of Helene from Super Kitchen Machine, and when I saw her recipe for Date Squares some time ago, I was inspired to adapt the recipe to make a larger quantity to fit my slice tin (couldn’t help myself!), and to use spelt flour which meant making a couple of other adjustments.
Date slices are one of my all time favourites … ever since my mum used to make them when I was little. Coming from Malta where “dates” are a much-loved ingredient, mum's slice was pretty awesome, but I knew it was just a matter of time before I would find a recipe that would come close to what she used to make … and this is it!
This is a really delicious slice, it keeps well in the fridge, can be cut into 24 squares making it perfect for a gathering, and Helene has done most of the hard work for us … so thank you Helene! All you need to do now is try this, and I know you will be thrilled with the result.