Good Eating Monday: Old Fashioned Date Bars

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I'm a day late this week, doing Monday's post on Tuesday, but a great recipe is good anytime of the week and this one for Date Bars truly is!
I remember making Date Bars when I was a kid in 4-H and after my sister made some, I decided to look through Pinterest for a good recipe to have on hand and found this.
I've made this recipe a couple times now; first just halved for an 8 x 8 pan (photo) because I only had one bag of chopped dates, but the recipe is for a 10 x 13 pan. 

Old Fashioned Date Bars

Ingredients:
3 cups pitted chopped dates (or 2  8oz bags of Dole Chopped Dates)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup quick oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks)
 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 to 1 cup pecans to taste

Directions:
Prep a 10 x 13 baking pan by spraying it with oil spray and preheating oven to 375.

 In a medium bowl: soften butter, then once soft, combine with sugar and cream until light and fluffy. 

 Beat in eggs one at a time.

Add vanilla.

Stir in quick oats.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then add gradually to creamed mixture, stirring after each addition. Batter will be pretty thick.

Fold in dates & nuts.

Scrape batter into 10 x 13 pan and spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes until golden. 

When done, remove to cooling rack and let cool. Once cool, you can cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator.
Date Bars are good immediately, but are one of those things that improves in flavor over several days.

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