Food for the Gods

March 2nd 2010

From the instant I set my eyes on this, I had to try it out. So it was made this weekend. It truly is "Food for the Gods" but surely made by the devil. You will understand when you take a bite and taste the richness in each mouthful. Oh, yum yum! The recipe I am posting here is straight from the Pioneer Woman's page .

Warning: Do not bake a whole tray on Friday and discover a weekend later that it is all gone, I am not responsible! 

Prep Time: 20 min, Cook Time: 30 min

Difficulty Level : Easy

Servings: 16

Ingredients

• 8 ounces, weight Pitted Dates, Chopped Coarsely (around 1 1/2 Cups)
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 4 whole Eggs At Room Temperature
• ¾ cups Packed Brown Sugar
• ¾ cups White Sugar
• 1-½ cup Butter
• 1-½ cup Walnuts, Chopped
• 1 cup Pecans, Chopped (optional)

Method de Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter and let it cool. Take 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and brush your pan (one 9×13 pan or two 8×8 pans), making sure to grease the sides as well.
3. Coarsely chop the pitted dates, walnuts, and pecans. Set them aside in a bowl. (If the dates you are using are too dry, you can soak them in a little bit of liquid. Make sure you drain them before mixing them in with the nuts.)
4. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl. Set aside.
5. Mix butter and sugar until well incorporated.
6. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
7. Add in the vanilla.
8. Reserve ¼ cup of the flour mixture. Dredge the date and nut mixture with the reserved flour. Use more of the flour mixture if needed.
9. Mix in the rest of the flour mixture with the wet ingredients. Do this gently, by hand, until just incorporated.
10. Fold in dredged dates and nuts with the batter.
11. Pour the batter (it will be very thick) onto the buttered pan(s).
12. Bake for 30 or more minutes, until light golden brown. It can take up to 40 or so minutes to cook, so keep checking. The bars are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
13. Let cool, and cut into squares or bars. Traditionally, these are then individually wrapped and either stacked in a gift basket, or simply served on a platter.
14. Store these in an airtight container. They will stay moist if wrapped tightly.

Chef's Tip: I just used my hand to blend the ingredients together, and I suspect that the texture is softer if you use a hand blender or mixer. I was just lazy. There are a lot of nuts in this recipe, if you don't want so many and prefer more cake then reduce the quantity.