After school, on rare occasions, we had date bars. The rare occasion being that mom was out. She left the white paper bag from Barbara’s Bake Shoppe on the island, along with a scrawl: Snack.
The bag held bakery-made luxury: neat white shortbread, a dusting of crumble over dark filling that — though not chocolate — beaconed. No homemade, whole-wheat mess.
I imagine mom bought the date bars — as opposed to Barbara’s sugar-bottom brownies or those cakes built up in a mound and stabbed, down the center, with a Barbie doll — in deference to dates.
The dried fruit served as cover — the healthy, stealthy ingredient that let the bars, in all their trim and tidy perfection — pass as snack. For that, I owe a debt to dates.
Date bars
Prep: 1 hour plus time to chill and cool
Bake: 30 minutes
Makes: 18 bars
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3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 cups flour
Date paste, see below
1 Beat: Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar, butter and shortening on medium speed until smooth. Whisk together yolks, vanilla and salt; pour into mixer and beat smooth. Sprinkle in flour; mix on low speed just until dough turns crumbly. Alternately, the dough can be mixed with a wooden spoon.
2 Layer: Set aside 3/4 cup dough crumbles. Firmly press remaining dough into a 9-inch square baking pan lined with parchment paper (leave some overhang). Smooth on date paste. Sprinkle reserved crumbles on top, streusel style.
3 Bake: Slide pan into a 375-degree oven, and bake until dates bubble at the edges and the top crumble turns golden brown, about 30 minutes.
4 Cut: Cool completely in pan. Lift out by the parchment paper overhang. Cut into 18 bars.
Date paste: Settle 3/4 pound pitted medjool dates in a saucepan. Stir in 3/4 cup sugar. Pour in water to cover dates. Cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally and adding water if need be, until fruit collapses into a thick jam, about 1 hour. As they cook, the hard-working dates may cast off their hard hats. Remove and discard. Once cooked, consider stirring in 1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest or 1 tablespoon brandy (or both) — shoving this dish beyond the confines of after-school snack. Chill.
Provenance: Dave Stark, owner of the Bake Shoppe in Des Moines, Iowa, reeled off this recipe from memory over the phone. (It has been lightly adapted here.) It was a favorite at the late, lamented Barbara’s Bake Shoppe in Iowa City, Iowa, which was originally owned by Stark’s father and uncle.