Date Bars YUM!

These were surprisingly FANTASTIC! I made these only because they came next in the book (1945), and I can honestly say that very little else would have motivated me to ever bake a date bar. 

But I will make these again and again (the home team testers loved them), and I will take them proudly into work. Or I will next time I make them, because they are all gone at home.And honestly, I'm thinking about entering them in the fair next year. They're THAT good!

I fed one today to a little boy who didn't much care for dates and didn't like walnuts in his food... and he came back for seconds and then thirds. That's how surprisingly good they are.

I had a Super Helper with this one. First we turned the graham crackers into crumbs:

 

Then we poured them into the pan and gloated over our success: 

And then we took bad pictures fast because we all wanted to eat them! 

They were so easy to make, and I would say they are nearly impossible to mess up. I made one lazy mistake that I will correct next time. The recipe calls for a 9x9 pan, and I used an 8x8 pan instead. I don't own a 9x9 pan and didn't think hard enough about the math.

9x9 = 81. The cookie batter needs to spread over 81 square inches to bake well. But like I said, I don't own one of these.

I have these:
8x8 = 64 (-17)
7x11 = 77 (-4)
9x12 = 108 (+27)

I also have these in round, remember Area = pi * (Radius squared):

9" = 63.5 (-17.5)

10" = 78.5 (-2.5)

The 10" round is closest, but I'd have to cut the date squares into date wedges, and that's just not cool. So next time I will use the 7x11... or I'll use this as an excuse to buy a 9x9 pan. 

Because I need another baking pan in my kitchen like a hole in the head. Yeah. Right.