These date bars are a recipe that she often made when I was a little girl.
I love recipes that take me back to my childhood. This is even more important to me now that my mother has passed away
Anything that reminds me of her is a precious recipe.
This recipe is a tried and true family favorite. Mum used to make it all the time and when I eat it now, I think fondly of my childhood.
Benefits of using dates
Dates are the fruit of the palm tree and they are packed with nutrients and are a great source of natural sugar.
Most dates that we find in grocery stores are dried dates, which concentrates their sugar.
Because of their natural sugar, dates are relatively high in calories. Most of the calories in dates come from carbohydrates.
A 3 1/2 ounce serving of dates provides 277 calories and 75 carbs. But they also have lots of potassium, magnesium, copper and vitamin B-6.
Dates are also high in antioxidants, so they make a great choice to use in sweet recipes. I often use them to make energy bites.
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This date bars recipe is delicious and rich.
When I was young, I used to love watching my mother making healthy desserts with maple syrup from scratch.
It gave me so much help when I started to cook for myself and I make many of her recipes to this day.
This one is a favorite. The date bars my mother made were gooey and delicious with the rich taste of dates and brown sugar.
This is my take on the recipe. They are sweetened with pure maple syrup for a nice change but still take me back to those dates eating her date bars around the kitchen table.
Recipes using maple syrup are healthier than those using refined sugars. This makes it a great alternative sweetener for those wanting a sweet taste but concerned about their overall health.
Maple syrup also gives a number of healthy nutrients to your recipe. I use it often in place of granulated sugar.
Making date bars
The bars are easy to make and my whole family loves them. The date mixture is made in a sauce pan by combining dates, water and maple syrup.
They are brought to a boil and then cooked until most of the liquid has absorbed.
This gives a nice rich mixture that looks somewhat like jam.
The top and bottom crust of the date bars is made from flour, oats, baking soda and salt. It is sweetened with some brown sugar and held together with butter.
Press a couple of cups of the oat mixture on the bottom of your pan, add the date mixture and then top with the rest of the oat mix and bake.
Tasting the date bars.
These hearty bars have a nice crunch from the oat mixture and a decadent and rich date filling. They make a wonderful switch from the normal chocolate bars and slices that are so prevalent.
They are my idea of comfort food!
Nutritional information for these date bars
This date bar recipe makes 20 slices. Each bar has 211 calories and 1.6 grams of saturated fat. Most oats are gluten free, but be sure to check the package for information.
For more healthy desserts and main dishes, please visit my Pinterest Healthy cooking board.
Are you fond of fruit and dried fruit desserts or do you prefer normal sweet treats? Please leave your comments below.
Pin this date bars recipe for later
Would you like a reminder of this recipe for maple date bars? Just pin this image to one of your Pinterest healthy cooking boards.
2 responses to “Date Bars with Maple Syrup – Hearty Sweet Treat”
I’m finding that my tastes are changing and I’m attracted to bars like this, especially if they have lemon zest in them. I think I would also like to try this recipe with orange zest. I’ve also become fond of apricot fillings lately as well. It’s funny…I used to be drawn to chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies…now, well…not so much.
I’m the same way Wendy. It’s funny how tastes change over time. Carol