Bubby's Date Bars

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 25 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 4 cups cut-up dates
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup soft butter
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups rolled oats

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• 2 prepare date filling: combine dates and water in a saucepan. cook, stirring over low heat until thick (about 10 minutes) cool; set aside.
• 3 mix soft butter and brown sugar thoroughly.
• 4 combine flour, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture.
• 5 add oats; mix.
• 6 place half of the crumb mixture in a greased 13 x 9 baking pan. press and flatten to cover bottom of pan.
• 7 spread with cooled date filling.
• 8 cover with remaining crumb mixture and pat lightly to smooth surface.
• 9 bake 25-30 minutes until lightly browned.
• 10 while warm, cut into bars and remove from pan. makes about 18 1 ½ x 2 inch bars.
• 11 note: though i didn't write it into the recipe, sometimes i add a little lemon rind and lemon juice to the date filling.