These date squares are sweet, chewy, crumbly, messy, and a little bit tangy thanks to the yummy, lemon-spiked medjool date purée sandwiched between a buttery crumble crust. Lemon juice takes the edge off the potentially sickening sweetness of the dates, and butter is… well, butter — enough said.  But honestly, you could eat a medjool date sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard and it would still kick an ordinary date square’s butt.

medjool date squares: they're not fancy, but they sure are good.

You know those solid blocks of compressed dates you find in the baking aisle at the grocery store? Well, forget about them. Once you’ve tasted a medjool date you’ll never go back to the dried-out hunks of date weaponry again.

avoid a nasty and potentially quite dangerous surprise: remove the pit from each date.

Sweet and sticky enough to satisfy even the most zealous candy addict, medjool dates are Mother Nature’s answer to toffee, Swedish Berries, and fudge, all rolled into a lovely little package that will count toward your recommended daily servings of fruit, and even provides a modicum of nutritional value! One medjool date contains 2 g of dietary fiber, 5 percent of your RDA of potassium, 2 percent of your RDA for calcium, and 1 percent of your RDA for iron. That same date also contains 16 g of sugar, but if you cared about that you wouldn’t be reading this blog, so let’s move on.

medjool dates : nature's candy... I bet you can't eat just one.

Medjool Date Squares

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Base and Topping Ingredients

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 ¼ cups rolled oats
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
1 ½ cups butter, softened

Filling Ingredients

2 cups medjool dates, pitted and chopped
½ cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup water

always butter, never margarine.

get your hands in it: incorporate butter into flour mixture by rubbing between your fingers.

Base  Directions

1. Grease a 10×8-inch  or 9-inch square baking pan with butter.
2. In large bowl, combine flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and butter.
3. Cut in butter by rubbing together with four mixture using your fingertips, until crumbly.
4. Press ½ of the crumble mixture firmly into prepared pan.

Filling Directions

1. In medium saucepan combine dates, sugar, lemon juice and water.
2. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until mushy — since medjool dates are already quite soft, this won’t take long.
3. Remove from heat.
   
   

   pat down base. spread on dates. sprinkle on topping. bake. cool. eat. devour every crumb.

Assembly

1. Spread date filling evenly over bottom layer of crumbs.
2. Sprinkle remaining crumble topping evenly over date filling; pat down ever so lightly with your hand.
3. Bake in preheated oven (350 degrees F) for 30 minutes, until the topping is a rich, golden brown color.
4. Cool in the pan before cutting.

fresh dates kick these squares up a notch!

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