- 1 1/2 c. water
- 1 1/2 c. chopped pitted dates
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F'inheit. Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.
Simmer the dates in the water until very soft. Mush them up with a fork until it's just a kind of grody looking brown slurry. Don't think about it, just do it. Stir in the vanilla.
While the date goo is cooking, do this part.
- 1/2 c. white all purpose flour
- 1c. whole wheat flour
- 1 c. old fashioned oats (Not instant. Quick cooking might be ok, but I'm not promising anything because I use the slow kind).
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 c. (4 tbsp) butter, slightly soft and chopped into smallish bits.
- 1/4 c. (plus maybe a little extra) olive oil (you could use some other kind of vegetable oil, but I use olive oil for everything, so there.)
- 3/4 c. walnuts
In a large-ish bowl, mix dry ingredients except walnuts. Use your fingers (or a pastry cutter if you're a freak or are hygenically impaired) to mush the butter into the flour-oat mixture. When it's mushed up to the point of being nearly undetectable, drizzle the olive oil on the flour mix and continue to smush. When it's all uniform and it holds its shape when you press it together, pour half of it in the prepared pan and press it down. Add the walnuts to the top and gently pat down. Spread the date goo over this layer and then evenly put the rest of the crumb mixture on top of that. Press down gently. You want to compact the stuff so that the top crust holds together, but you don't want to smush out the date goo. Bake for 40 mins. Let cool before cutting if you're the patient sort. If you're not, they just won't hold together as well. These are really good warm with a little vanilla ice cream on top.
