Date Nut Bars

What, no butter? I couldn't imagine what this date nut bar recipe would produce: it has no butter and only five tablespoons of flour.  I began with more than a bit of trepidation and ended as a very happy baker.  These are delicious -- a 1940s version of a granola bar, albeit without the granola -- and easy-ish on the waistline.

The recipe, written in a composition book, is from a large collection of Amish recipes I purchased last week on eBay in an rather intense bidding war.  Like many recipes of its time -- perhaps the lack of butter was a result of food wartime food rationing? -- this recipe features dates and nuts quite prominently, not that there's anything wrong with that!

The mis en place, below: the dry ingredients and dates and nuts are simply mixed into....

...the beaten eggs.

The batter is quite sticky, but I used an offset spatula and my latex-gloved hands to spread it in the cookie sheet.

After about 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven, it transformed into the cake below.

When it had cooled a bit, I cut it into small squares. (All the imperfect squares belong to the baker.)

These were wildly popular at work.  Guess it was a slow sugar week.