And now, the only kind of date square I ever want to make ever. It will take much convincing for me NOT to put chocolate into all my date squares now. Let's talk about one of my favourite things to do in life: House sitting. It's the best. I get to pretend I live somewhere new, with all these new and wonderful things, I have space all to myself, but best of all I get to use somebody else's kitchen and discover all their wonderful dishes and snoop through the pantry to see what ingredients lurk within. This might sound (okay it does sound very) creepy. BUT I only do so with permission from the home owner... and they know full well that I will only use their kitchen for good. They can also rest assured that when they come home they better believe that there will be fresh baking awaiting them upon their (clean) countertop. My kind and gracious Aunt let me live in her cozy home for a week, and these next-level date squares are what I created in her cute little tidy kitchen. It is so clean and organized it's inspirational. I brought some of the ingredients from my home but had a time using her measuring spoons and little hand mixer... which felt strange and foreign to me. (I am spoiled with my fancy stand mixer). Her oven is amazing, which is all the more encouragement for me to bake. I mean, it's so clean! The front glass you can ACTUALLY SEE THROUGH. I don't think I've ever had that in an oven. I could just sit on the kitchen floor and watch things bake. Dates are great! I love how they are naturally sweet and taste like brown sugar. When you cook them down until they are soft and jam-like, then add chocolate, and orange zest (!) you have my ultimate attention. (I saved some of this filling back just so I could eat it with a spoon later. No shame. Just smart.) I wish I could take credit for this recipe idea but this is another great and fabulous recipe from the brilliant Renee Kohlman AKA SweetSugarBean. Be prepared for lots of her to show up on this lil site... Her tastes, cravings and ideas are freakishly similar to my own and sometimes I feel like she has taken things out of my own head and published them in a book. I love it. **Said book was given to me by said Aunt as a baking-school-graduation gift, and therefore an appropriate thing to bake from whilst taking care of her home. I can take credit for one thing in this recipe, I decided to toast both the oats and the walnuts before I mixed them into the crumb, just to ooompf up the flavour a bit more. Once you learn the wonders of toasted oats, it's hard to go back to life as it once was. I love and adore how oats taste and smell nutty when you toast them to a dark amber; it helps balance the sweetness of the filling nicely I think. I love these date squares!! They are so good please try them!! Make tonight date night. Chocolate Date Square with Toasted Oat and Walnut CrumbleRecipe from SweetSugarBean (Renee Kohlman) All The Sweet Things cookbook Chocolate Date Filling:
Toasted Oat & Walnut Crumble:
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