Recipe: Date & Nut bars

If a biscotti and a blondie had a baby, it would be these date & nut bars. My husband originally got this recipe from a family friend and I made a couple adjustments. The original recipe called for only, you guessed it, dates and nuts. I reduced the sugar amount, dates and nuts of the original recipe and added toffee and white chocolate chips. I love them with my morning coffee and that's why they remind me of biscotti but they're also a great alternative to the traditional brownie.

I don't always bake things from scratch but this is very easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup softened butter

3/4 cup toffee bits

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( you can also used pecans or macadamias)

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

If you are starting out with whole dates, pit the dates and roll them in a bit of flour before chopping to avoid sticking. If you are using pre-chopped dates, skip to the next step.

In an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and eggs

add flour, baking powder and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture until combined.

remove the mixing bowl from the mixer and using a spatula, fold in dates, nuts, toffee bits and white chocolate chips

spread onto a lightly greased baking sheet (note: I find it easier to spread the mixture onto the sheet using the palm of my hands rather than a spatula)



Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is light brown.

Enjoy!