Chocolate Chip Date Nut Squares.

Chicopee's Note:

Got this from my mother-in-law. If she had told me ahead of time there were dates in this I may never have tried it. mmmmm good secret: must be prepared day ahead.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 24

Yield: 24.0 squares

• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 6 ounces chocolate chips

Directions:

1. In medium bowl mix 1 1/2 c boiling water and 1 1/2 tsp baking soda with the dates.
2. Set aside to cool.
3. Beat together margarine,1 c sugar and eggs in large bowl.
4. To this add vanilla extract and date mixture.
5. Add flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda and salt.
6. Pour into greased and floured 13x9 pan.
7. Sprinkle 1/4 c sugar, nuts and chocolate morsels on top.
8. Bake @ 325 degrees 45 minutes.
9. The difficult part: set aside until the next day to eat.

Reviews

[L.A. Stewart - way upstate N.Y.]

Yet aNOTHER fabulous recipe from a RZ member! OMG this is amazing! I had some leftover dates that I needed to use up and found this recipe. I am SO glad I did. My kids devoured it! A keeper for sure! I don't know how people dream up some of these recipes...they're truly amazing to the un-creative, such as myself! Thank you for sharing such a light and flavorful recipe! xo LA

[Motivated Mama]

Wonderful! I turned this into a cake for my brother's birthday. He doesn't like nuts so I subbed coconut in the topping and it was fantastic. I also used butter instead of marg., chopped up dark chocolate instead of chips, added a bit of oatmeal and a spoonful of cocoa to the batter. My brother took one bite and said, "YOU MADE THIS FROM SCRATCH!?" I packed it in my husband's lunch on the third day and he told me it was, "Friggin' awesome." and "Really, really, really, really good" Those are all five star reviews in my book. :) Thanks for posting!

[Eight West]

Really good, added a banana and it was even better, topped with brown sugar instead of white sugar and made it crunchy. Also added health bar crunch to topping too