Description
Vegan date squares are the OG power snack. Our recipe is an update of an old-fashioned classic – great for school, on-the-go, or anytime!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 cups pitted and finely chopped dates*
- 1 Tbs all purpose flour
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted (I use Earth Balance)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease or parchment line an 8x12x2 inch baking pan
- Combine the dates and 1 Tbs flour with 1 cup of hot water in a sauce pan and simmer on moderate heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
- Set aside
- Combine the brown sugar, flour, baking soda, rolled oats and melted butter until well blended. The texture should be like coarse crumbs
- Spread half of the mixture into the bottom of the pan and press evenly with your hands
- Spoon the date mixture evenly into the pan and gently spread it over the bottom layer. Don’t worry if some of the oats get pulled away from the bottom. Just work carefully and make the layer as even as possible
- Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top of the date mixture and, once evenly distributed, pat into the date mixture with your hand or the back of a spoon
- Bake in the center of your oven for 20 minutes
- Cool completely in the pan before cutting into the squares
- Share and enjoy!
Notes
- * a note about dates: there are many kinds and they all have different properties. The most common in the supermarkets are Deglet Noor. They are medium brown, firm, a little drier, and slightly sweet. The other type you often find are Medjools which are large, very dark, very sweet, and a bit expensive (usually). Because they are so easy to get we often use the Deglet Noors. But Medjools would really intensify the sweet. Much harder to find are the soft, gooey, sticky, super sweet Khadrawy dates (which we love), which are a real treat, and wonderful in these date bars. You really can’t go wrong – its your choice!