Thrice the Cranberries

I am still on my cranberry quest. This time it was Cranberry Date Bars. These are really delicious but kind of messy to eat. To start, in medium sized bowl, mix the cranberries (fresh or frozen, or in my case, fresh that I froze) with sugar.




Add chopped dates. Now I recommend whole pitted dates and chopping them yourself. If you buy already chopped dates, they tend to have a coating of sugar on them and who needs even more sugar than this already has?



Then add chopped walnuts. I always use more than the recipe calls for because Nick is a nut fanatic. "Everything tastes better with nuts in it" is one of his favorite things to say.




Mix them together and set aside. Then in another bowl, mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, rolled oats (not the quick ones), and baking soda.




Add melted butter or margarine and mix well. Reserve 1 cup of this mixture and set aside. The rest is pressed into the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and then baked for 10 minutes.




When that comes out, sprinkle the cranberry mixture over the partially cooked crust then then top with the reserved oat mixture. Bake again for about 20 minutes or until a lightly browned.




This is, like I said, really delicious, but the cranberry topping tends to fall right off. I wonder how it would be if I added a can of sweetened condensed milk to the top of the crust, before the cranberry topping? Hmmm... something to ponder. Would it be too sweet? If you try doing it that way, let me know how it works out.


Cranberry Date Bars

1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup margarine or butter, melted
1 1/2 cups dates, chopped
2/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 350.

In a bowl, combine cranberries and 2 Tablespoons sugar. Add dates and walnuts and mix to combine. In another bowl, combine flour, oats, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar and baking soda. Add melted butter or margarine and mix well. Reserve 1 cup of crumb mixture then press remainder firmly on bottom of 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Bake 10 minutes. Sprinkle cranberry mixture over crust then top with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and then cut into bars.