Date Bars and Sugar Cookie Experiments

I enjoyed getting everyone's opinion the other day, thanks for posting even if you didn't agree!  Sometimes it just feels good to have a place to air your opinions.  Yesterday I thought I heard the mail truck going by way too early and it put the idea in my head to share some treats with our mail lady.  Guess she had a surprise when she put down the flag!

Katrina said "let's" make sugar cookies the other day.  We all know how that turned out, right?  For three days I've been dabbling at experimenting with cookie designs based on what she found on the internet.  I put my foot down at fancy shapes, told her I just wanted to some round ones.

The melted snowman would have turned out a lot better if I had used lemon juice instead of vanilla in the icing.  I didn't use a royal icing because I hate that overly hard coating, but the only alternative I found online contained corn syrup which didn't make me happy either since I had to go buy a whole bottle to use about a tablespoon.  Now I realize I probably could have asked a neighbor I'm sure someone on the block has it in their cupboard.

buttercream icing for the snowflakes...yum!

I will say the cookie tinkering has been a welcome creative distraction, but I wish I'd been making greeting cards instead.  Things have been tough emotionally here at home the past few weeks.  The weather is actually above freezing, but too cold out in the open with the wind so it's not likely I'll stop somewhere for a hike which is the best therapy of all for me.

This year I used real pitted dates and chopped them myself instead of buying the ones already chopped and coated in sugar.  It made a huge difference in flavor and texture in my opinion.

Here's the recipe, it's super easy and a joy to make and eat.


AUNT ROSE'S DATE BARS

2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter

Mix the above ingredients and rub/crumble the butter into mixture by hand until crumbly.  Press 1/2 of the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.

2-3 cups chopped dates
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup white sugar (less if using sugar coated dates)
1 1/2 cups water

Cook in small saucepan until thick.  Since I chopped my own dates it looked lumpy so I used my immersion blender to make it nice and smooth.

Spread date filling on top of oat mixture then top with remaining oat mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned, about 20-25 minutes.  Let cool and cut into squares. 

I hope all my followers have a nice holiday and if you overindulge don't forget to balance it out with some exercise! Today I'm making a batch of homemade bread and the work I'm doing with the personal trainer has made a difference because my arms and hands didn't get tired kneading 10 lbs of flour!

 Since the snow is passing to the south of us maybe I'll pretend I'm someplace warmer and go for a walk outside.  If I squint my eyes a little I might be able to fool myself...right?