Glazed Cranberry Date Bars Food

CRANBERRY CARAMEL DATE BARS

Steps:

• Turn on music and put on a cute apron. Both of these things make baking more awesome. Also, preheat your oven to 350. :)
• Assemble your army.
• Wash cranberries, stir together with 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl; set aside.
• Into a large bowl, measure out 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour (or white flour - do NOT use regular whole wheat flour - it will be a dense disaster)! Add in 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 cups of oats, 1/3 cup of regular sugar. And 1/3 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed. Put some muscle into it! Stir the flour/oats/sugar mixture together
• Place 2 sticks of butter in a pan (or in a bowl in the microwave) and heat until it melts. Yes, this is a lot of butter. Sometimes it's worth it. This is one of those times.
• Go on a cheesy photo rampage because you're waiting for the butter to melt.
• The butter has melted! Stir it into your flour/oats/sugar mixture. When the mixture gets crumbly, you're done stirring. Take out 1 cup of the mixture and save it for later.
• Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased or sprayed 9x13 inch baking dish.
• Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
• When it's done, take it out of the oven and sprinkle it with fun things. First, the chopped dates. Next, the chopped pecans. And then, finally - the secret weapon. The cranberry/sugar mixture!
• Stir together the caramel sauce and the remaining 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour. You may want to heat the mixture a bit in the microwave (just 15 to 20 seconds) so it gets nice and runny.Then, drizzle the caramel/flour mixture over everything! Try to get a solid layer of caramel over everything - it's what will make the bars stick together!
• Last step - sprinkle everything with the 1 cup of flour/sugar/butter mixture that you reserved earlier on. Remember that? You better not have eaten it.
• Put your masterpiece back into the oven and bake 20 more minutes, or until lightly browned. Sample some immediately, burning your mouth in the process, and then let the rest of the mixture cool for awhile before cutting it into bars

CRANBERRY DATE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Place cranberries, dates and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until berries pop, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla., Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt; stir in melted butter. Press half of the mixture into an ungreased 13x9-in. pan. Bake 8 minutes. , Spoon cranberry mixture over crust. Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture; pat down gently. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes longer. Cool completely on a wire rack., Mix glaze ingredients. Drizzle over top.

CRANBERRY DATE BARS

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 350^. Butter or spray a jelly roll pan;set aside. Filling: In a 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, cook together cranberries and dates with the water, stirring constantly, until berries have popped. Cool --- Crust: In a mixing bowl cream butter; gradually add sugar and continue beating until blended. Blend in vanilla. Sift together flour, soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats. Pat slightly more than half of crumb mixture on the prepared pan. Spread filling evenly over cookie crust. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture on top. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack. --- Glaze: In a mixing bowl beat together ingredients until smooth. When cookie bars are cool, drizzle with the glaze. Cut into bars , size of your choice.

CRANBERRY DATE BARS

Steps:

• 1. In a saucepan, over low heat, simmer cranberries, dates, and water for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have popped. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and set aside.
• 2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in butter until well blended.
• 3. Pat half the oat mixture into an ungreased 13"x9"x2" baking pan. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Spoon cranberry mixture over crust. Sprinkle with the remaining oat mixture. Pat gently.
• 4. Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes or until browned. Cool.
• 5. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over bars. Yield: 3 dozen bars.
• 6. You might want sometimes to serve bar cookies with ice cream. Not so with these! They're so yummy by themselves that nothing else is needed except, maybe, a good cup of coffee.
• 7. Susan uses only half the glaze recipe, but I LOVE confectioners' sugar, so I use all of it!

CRANBERRY DATE BARS

Steps:

• For filling: In a medium saucepan combine cranberries and dates- cook, covered, over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in vanilla. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl sitr together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in butter till well blended. Put half of the oat mixture on the bottom of a 13x9x2 inch pan (pat down). Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Carefully spread filling over baked oat mixture- Sprinkle remaining oat mixture atoppat gently. Bake for 20-22 min. more or until golden. Cool on wire rack. Drizzle with orange glaze. Cut into bars. Orange Glaze: In med. bowl stir 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2-3 tbs orange juice.

BEST DATE BARS

Steps:

• In a saucepan, combine dates, sugar and water. Cook, stirring frequently, until very thick. Stir in walnuts, if desired; cool. , Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl; add oats and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle water over mixture; stir lightly. Pat half into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Spread with date mixture; cover with remaining oat mixture and pat lightly. , Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

CRANBERRY BARS

Steps:

• In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil. Add cranberries and cook until they pop, about 4-6 minutes. Add orange juice, orange zest, butter, cinnamon and salt. Cook 5 minutes longer or until mixture thickens. Remove from the heat; stir in walnuts and set aside. , For crust, combine the flour and salt in a bowl; cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add sugar and oats; mix well. Spoon half into an ungreased 13x9-in. baking pan; pat firmly into pan. Spread filling evenly over crust. Top with remaining crumb mixture; pat lightly. , Bake at 400° for 30-35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.