Orange Date Bars Food

OLD-FASHIONED DATE BAR RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Prepare a 9 x 13" baking pan by spraying with cooking spray and/or lightly but thoroughly flouring the bottom (if needed - my pan doesn't need this).
• In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.
• In a second medium bowl, combine sugar and butter until butter is completely incorporated into the sugar. The mixture will be crumbly, similar to wet sand. (I find it's easiest to do this with my hands, rubbing the butter into the sugar with my fingers, but you can also use an electric mixer.) Add eggs, water, and vanilla, and stir until thoroughly combined. Add the dates and walnuts and stir again to distribute evenly.
• Lightly dump the dry ingredients (flour mixture) over top of the wet ingredients (sugar mixture) and stir just until thoroughly combined. The dough will be very thick and sticky.
• Using a rubber scraper, spread the dough into the pan, pushing it and flattening it until it's an even thickness (dough will only thinly cover the entire pan).
• Bake for about 20-22 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
• Let cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack before cutting. Cut into 39 sticks that are 1 inch wide and 3 inches long.
• Place at least 1/4 cup of powdered sugar in a wide bowl. Roll each bar in the sugar to coat, tapping gently to remove any excess, loose sugar. (You should actually use only about 1 tablespoon of the sugar to thinly coat the bars, but it makes it much easier to work with them if there is plenty of extra sugar in the bowl. You can discard the excess.)

ORANGE BARS

Steps:

• For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter.
• Stir together the flour, granulated sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the butter to the bowl and use a pastry cutter to cut it all together until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press into the prepared pan and bake until golden around the edges, about 20 minutes.
• For the filling: Stir together the granulated sugar and flour in a bowl. Crack in the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the orange zest and juice and mix until combined. Pour over the crust and bake until the filling is set, about 20 minutes.
• Allow to cool in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, then sift powdered sugar over the top before cutting into 16 pieces.

FROSTED ORANGE DATE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
• In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, 1/2 cup butter, water and dates. Cook, stirring frequently until dates have softened and the mixture is well blended. Remove from heat. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the date mixture, then mix in the 1/4 cup orange juice, milk, eggs and 1 tablespoon orange zest. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. To make the frosting, combine the confectioners' sugar, 1/3 cup butter, cream cheese and orange zest. Beat until smooth. Gradually mix in the remaining orange juice a tablespoon at a time until the icing is spreadable. Spread over the bars when cool. Cut into squares.

MA'AMOUL MED (ORANGE AND ESPRESSO DATE COOKIE BARS)

Steps:

• To make the dough: In a medium bowl, combine the flours, salt, sugar, mahlab, and yeast. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix by hand or in a mixer until it forms a paste. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
• To make the filling: While the flour mixture rests, immerse the dates in hot tap water and allow them to soak for about 10 minutes or until softened. Once they are soft, drain thoroughly and pulse them in the bowl of a food processor along with the butter, espresso powder, cinnamon, orange zest, and cardamom to form a sticky paste. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 15 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, the dough will have hardened, so use a wooden spoon or other utensil such as a dough cutter to break up the dough a bit. Pour the milk and orange blossom water into the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Let stand at room temperature for another 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 300°F. Cut four sheets of parchment paper to fit an 8-by-11-inch sheet tray. Form the dough into a ball and divide it into 2 equal parts.
• Press half the dough onto one of the sheets of parchment. Layer a second piece of parchment on top and, using a rolling pin, roll an even ¼-inch crust to the paper's edges. Remove the top layer of parchment and flip the dough into the sheet tray. Re-use the sheets of parchment and roll out the second ball of dough. Set aside.
• Sandwich the date filling between two new sheets of parchment and roll into an even ¼-inch layer, out to the paper's edges. Remove the top sheet and flip the date layer onto the dough. Remove the remaining parchment. Flip the remaining dough over the date filling and remove the final sheet of parchment.
• Transfer the sheet tray to the oven and bake, rotating the tray once, until the bars are light golden brown on the edges, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and, when it is cool enough to touch, cut the bars into 2-by-2-inch squares. Transfer the tray to a wire rack to finish cooling. When the ma'amoul is completely cool, dust with the confectioners' sugar before serving. The bars can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

ORANGE OAT DATE BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom and sides of 9-inch square baking pan. In medium saucepan, combine dates and orange juice. Cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in brown sugar; gently simmer an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in pecans. Set aside.
• In large bowl, stir cookie mix and melted butter with fork until mixture is crumbly. Press 2/3 of mixture into bottom of pan. Pour date mixture over crust in pan. Sprinkle with remaining cookie mixture.
• Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. For bars, cut into 5 rows by 4 rows. Store covered at room temperature.

CHEWY ORANGE-DATE BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom and sides of 15x10x1-inch pan with baking spray with flour.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, oats, butter, orange peel and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until batter is thick. Stir in dates and walnuts. Spread in pan.
• Bake 22 to 26 minutes or until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on cooling rack 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen bars. Cool completely, about 1 hour 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows. Store covered.

DATE BARS

Steps:

• In 2-quart saucepan, cook filling ingredients over low heat about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cool 5 minutes.
• Heat oven to 400°F. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with shortening.
• In large bowl, stir brown sugar and butter until well mixed. Stir in flour, oats, baking soda and salt until crumbly. Press half of the crumb mixture evenly in bottom of pan. Spread with filling. Top with remaining crumb mixture; press lightly.
• Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool 5 minutes in pan on cooling rack. Cut into 6 rows by 6 rows while warm.

ORANGE GLAZED DATE NUT BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a large bowl combine all ingredients for bars. Mix well.
• Pour into greased and floured 13x9" pan.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.
• Cool.
• In a small bowl, mix glaze ingredients until smooth.
• Pour evenly oven date bread.
• Cut into bars.

DATE CRANBERRY ORANGE BARS

Steps:

• Beat margarine and 1/2 cup sugar until creamy.
• Stir in 1 cup of flour.
• Press onto bottom of a 8" square pan.
• Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes until edges are golden brown.
• Beat eggs well.
• Stir in remaining sugar, flour, dates, cranberries and juice.
• Pour over crust.
• Bake 20 minutes more or until lightly browned.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
• Cut into bars.