Generous dates

[vaneramos]

Being gluten-intolerant, I rely heavily on Lärabars for snacks. On the ride home from work they're nutritious, delicious, and give me the little boost I need going into the evening. My favourite flavours are Key Lime Pie, Tropical Fruit and Cherry Pie.

Recently I went looking for a date bar I could make myself and came up with this recipe. With the flour it resembles a traditional square more than a fruit bar, still it's good enough to become part of my regular repertoire (I won't be giving up Lärabars anytime soon).

The recipe calls for "1 cup chopped dates (generous)". I suppose I've had a few parsimonious dates in my time, but overall I've been fortunate.

This morning I went shopping for dates. The Stone Store tends to be more expensive, but I have to go there anyway to get gluten-free cereal. In a bulk bin I found the plumpest, most luscious dates I have ever seen. Readers, particularly from the Southwest, may be familiar with Medjool dates, but they're unfamiliar to me. Expensive, too. I purchased just enough for the recipe and a little taste besides.

The texture is fleshy, the flavour like honey. One is almost satisfying as a snack, but these dates are so generous I ended up with scarcely enough for the recipe.

Note: if shopping gluten-free, choose whole dates or certified gluten-free chopped dates. Commercial chopped dates usually have wheat flour added to cut the stickiness.

To compensate for the missing dates, I added some cooked pumpkin to the mix, which produced a moister cake-like square. I also used more sweet spices and substituted sunflower seeds for tree nuts. Here's the method:

Gluten-free date squares

¾ cup gluten-free flour mix (I'm always experimenting with this; today I used soya flour, sorghum flour and corn starch...worked nicely)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp unflavoured gelatin
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped dates (parsimonious)
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup cooked pumpkin (or squash)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line an 8x12-inch pan with foil and brush with vegetable oil. In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, gelatin, spices, salt and sugar. Add chopped dates and toss with fingers to coat each piece well. Add sunflower seeds and toss again. Whisk eggs, add vanilla and pumpkin and bled together, and add to other ingredients, stirring until blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let sand 10 minutes. Cover with rack and invert. Remove pan and foil, cover with rack, invert and cool right side up. Cut into squares.

Next time I might try cutting back the sugar and use some grated carrot in place of the squash.