Date & Oat Squares

There’s a little coffee shop in town that I go to on Sunday mornings; and every time, I order their very delicious dairy-free date & oat slice. So today, as I was enjoying my slice and cup of coffee I thought, “why not bake my own date & oat loaf?” 

I scoured the internet, and sure enough I found the perfect recipe, which just so happens to be a healthier version of the Cafe slice, on The Intolerant Gourmet. Her recipe is healthy and vegan friendly, and you can even make it gluten free if you so choose (just swap regular oats with gluten free).

I always have medjool dates and oats on hand (I add them to my banana smoothies—try it, I promise you it's delicious), so luckily, I didn’t even need to buy anything from the market.

Recipe after the JUMP

Date & Oat Squares

Makes about 9 slices

Supplies

8 inch square baking tin

Kitchen Scale (the most useful and inexpensive tool to have in the kitchen. I bought mine 3 years ago on Amazon for about 4 pounds, and it’s been well worth it)

Spatula

Wooden Spoon

Small Saucepan

Ingredients

200g Pitted Dates (I used Medjool dates and removed the pit)

125g Oats

125 ml water

2 tbsp vegetable or sunflower oil

Pinch of Salt

2 tbsp maple syrup (I only used 1 tbsp, as the dates are sweet enough on their own)

Method

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F

aren't they gorgeous?

Remove pits and roughly chop the dates

• Roughly chop dates and place them in a pot with your 125ml of water. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until dates have formed a thick paste

• Add oats, vegetable oil, maple syrup, and pinch of salt to date paste, and stir to combine

• Pour your mixture onto your lined baking tin, using a spatula or the back of your spoon to spread evenly

• Bake for 15-20 minutes until they take on a golden colour.
• Remove from the oven and cut into squares. Let cool

All in all, this was a really simple recipe to follow. Although my squares may not look exactly like the ones at the Cafe, I promise they tasted just as good. And for something that has almost no added sugar (if you avoid the maple syrup), and no dairy products, you can definitely classify it as a guilt free treat. 

Enjoy!