Okay so this is a new twist on an old favorite, I love date bars but I love them even more with chocolate!!! :chocolate:



Oatmeal Crust:

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup pure cocoa powder

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Date Filling:

3 cups pitted dates - chopped coarsly

2/3 cup espresso (or strong coffee)

3 squares bakers dark chocolate

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour (or use a non stick cooking spray) an 8 x 11 inch or a 9 x 9 inch pan. Set aside.

Date Filling: Place all the ingredients in a small sauce pan and cook on medium temp. until mixture has thickened, stirring occasionally. Let cool to room temperature and set aside.


Oatmeal Crust: In the bowl of a mixer place the oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. mix to combine. Then add the butter and mix until the mixture is crumbly. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the base of the prepared pan.

Spread the dates evenly over the oatmeal crust. Sprinkle the remaining dough evenly over the top of the dates and press lightly to form an even crust. Bake for about 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool. Once the squares have cooled, cover the pan with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator at least one hour or until firm enough to cut easily into squares.

These will keep, covered, in the refrigerator up to a week.


If you want to make it even more chocolatey you can melt some chocolate chips in a pan and spoon the melted chocolate into a piping bag (or zip lock baggy with the corner cut out if you don't have a piping bag), and drizzle this over the bars when they have cooled a bit.

My two favorite things!
 

From the Chocolate Cookbook....
 

stolen from a recipe website
 

Chocolate Pretzel Rings

Ingredients
• 48 pretzel rings or mini twists
• 1 (8 ounce) package milk chocolate kisses
• 1/4 cup M&M's

Directions
1. Place the pretzels on greased baking sheets; place a chocolate kiss in the center of each ring. Bake at 275 degrees F for 2-3 minutes or until chocolate is softened. Remove from the oven. Place an M&M on each, pressing down slightly so chocolate fills the ring. Refrigerate for 5-10 minutes or until chocolate is firm. Store in fridge or room temp.

alternatives & suggestions
Following the same procedure, use tiny pretzel twists or the waffle shaped ones make a nice base, too. Instead of kisses, individual Rollos. On top, press in a toasted pecan half. Basically, they are Pretzel Turtles.

if you are using white and milk chocolate - be sure you don't put them on the same cookie sheet, because they definitely melt at different times!

I found that the caramel was just a bit too much, so I cut the rolos in half and put them on top of the pretzels (caramel side facing up, unless you want a nasty, sticky mess)

I used miniature peanut butter cups with m&m's

there is literally a 15 second window of perfect meltiness. In my oven, it was 2 minutes, 45 seconds. 15 seconds less and it was still hard in the middle, 15 more and it was too melty. For some reason, my milk chocolate ones would NOT melt. Ever. They went from hard to cooked. Very odd. The peppermint ones were yummy, but did not hold their colors as well as the hugs. I used regular Cmas themed m&ms and also mint ones. The regular m&ms got a little chalky colored and lost their gloss - maybe because I put them in the freezer to cool? The mint ones I cooled in the fridge and did NOT loose their color or gloss.

I like more crunch & salt so I squished the melted kisses between 2 square snaps. Just the right chocolate to salt ratio for me, and super fast and easy.

HELP!!
 

this is true!
 

Chocolate bacon? OMG I would be in heaven lol - but then again I'm staying off bacon these days :praying:

I'm not doing anything on Canada Day (thursday) ~ maybe I can come hang out with you and get into some chocolate trouble *bwahahahaha*


:grindevil:

This isn't them, but your post did remind me of something my granny used to make, and then hide from me so i wouldn't eat every single one!

CHOW MEIN NOODLE HAYSTACKS
1 (6 oz.) pkg. semisweet chocolate bits
1 (6 oz.) pkg. butterscotch bits
1 (6 oz.) can of Spanish peanuts
Large can of chow mein noodles (the crunchy kind, i think the brand she used was La Choy)

Melt bits over hot water. Add other ingredients and mix well. Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet an push together to form mounds.

(i don't remember if hers had butterscotch in them).

damnable food network!!!