Date Bars with Orange Icing
Source of Recipe
Hometown Cooking, Feb. 2000, pg. 82
Recipe Introduction
These are wonderful! So moist and tender and tasty to boot. These do not taste low-fat. I wasn't sure what category to put these under, because they are not like a bar cookie at all. They're a very soft and cakey snack bar that would be good any time of the day. I misread the ingredients in the icing and ended up adding way more orange zest than it called for, but I don't think 1/2 t. would have been enough for me anyway. My notes are at the bottom.
List of Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped dates
1 cup boiling water
1 cup flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts -- toasted
Orange Icing:
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 T. softened butter
1/2 t. fresh orange zest (or more to taste)*
2 T. fresh orange juice
Recipe
Coat a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with Pam and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place dates in a small bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let stand for 10 minutes. Drain well.
Meanwhile combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and baking soda in a small bowl.
In another bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed until frothy. Add brown sugar and drained dates, beating until mixture is well mixed. Stir in evaporated milk.
Add flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon (or rubber spatula) to mix well.
Stir in nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly with a finger.
Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
To make the icing, combine all ingredients and stir until smooth. Spread bars with orange icing.
Makes 25 bars
122 calories, 2 g. fat, 0 g. fiber
NOTES : I cut the recipe in half and used a brownie pan (about 7x11 inches). I baked them for about 16 minutes. I used a little extra dates and cinnamon and added 1/2 t. vanilla to the batter. And I used regular evaporated milk. Also, I used a lot more orange zest in the icing (the zest of a medium orange for 1/2 a batch of icing). The original recipe stated 50 bars at 61 cal. a piece, but I thought 25 was more reasonable unless you were cutting them for a potluck.
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