Date breakfast bars

We had a box of deglet noor dates (pitted) that was languishing on our countertop, so I decided to make these bars: https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/11/date-breakfast-squares/

Date Breakfast Squares

We cut these into 12 bars.

For the filling
1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) pitted dates, chopped
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon finely grated orange (or mandarin or clementine) zest

For the crumbs
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup raw or turbinado sugar
1/2 cup olive oil, coconut oil, melted butter or a mix of the above
3/4 cups rolled oats, I used quick-cooking but old-fashioned should work just fine
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour, or a wholegrain flour mix of your choice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
A pinch or two of ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Either grease bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch pan or line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan, combine dates, water and zest over low heat, simmering for 5 to 10 minutes, until liquid has absorbed and mixture has thickened. Set aside while you make the crumbs.

In a large bowl, mix the sugars and oil or butter together. Add the oats, flour, spices, baking soda and salt and stir to combine; the mixture should form a coarse rubble.

Press half into the bottom of your prepared pan. Dollop the date mixture over it and use a small offset spatula (or whatever you have on hand) to spread the mixture smoothly over the crumbs. Don’t worry if the crumbs move around a littleunderneath; these bars don’t require perfection. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over date layer and press lightly to cover.

Bake bars for 25 minutes, or until light brown at the edges. Cool in pan. Cut into squares. They’ll keep just fine at room temperature but will last up to a week in the fridge and longer in the freezer.

My notes:
1. I made a mistake and forgot to chop the dates up prior to stewing them. sigh. So I had to blend them in the blender and probably added close to a half cup more water to get them to blend.However, this ended up working out just fine, and I'd consider doing it again to get a more even filling consistency.
2. I used half butter and half olive oil for the fat. I also used half rolled outs and half instant oats. I would do that again, if possible.
3. I used whole wheat flour.
4. I zested 3 small mandarins. We could taste the citrus after the stewing step, and I even added more zest before the top crumb layer, but we didn’t taste the citrus after the bake. I’d consider adding more.
5. I’d also consider adding chopped walnuts— not sure how. Maybe mixed into the date purée? Maybe mixed into the crumb on top? I think I'm leaning toward chopping them finely and putting them into the crumb topping.

Update:
I made these again on 6/8/19
1. This time I used a mix of olive oil and coconut oil. The bars definitely turned out crumblier without the butter but I was able to slice them into bars without too much trouble after refrigerating them overnight.
3. I chopped maybe a half cup of pecans and mixed them into the top layer of crust. Delicious and I would do that again.
3. I zested a little extra orange peel over the date purée and the flavor came through better this time.
4. I also made the date purée ahead of time and froze it in the freezer, defrosted it overnight and it worked well. If I have a surplus of dates for some reason, I’d consider keeping a bag in the fridge for a quick dessert.