Food For The Gods - A Philippine Desert - Cookie Bar

Wishing you all a Very Happy Holiday Season and Merry Christmas!

The following situation has been going on for a long time. Every year for the past 10 years, I mean this has been going on for a long time. The week before Chritmmas, The Washington Post has a food supplement filled with recipes for cookies. I save it hoping one day I'd get to make at least one of the cookies listed there. In the hope that it is holiday time after all and there will obviously be time. December becomes January, followed by February and then March, you get the idea.

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Time passes by but the cookies never get baked. This happens year after year. Anyway cue in the dramatic music. This since DD was home she made these delicious cookies. For some reason any recipe that has dates, that is the first we turn to. The good thing is with dates you can reduce the sugar quantity and it still tastes good. Sometimes adding the sugar amount mentioned in the recipe, it gets too sweet.

Food For the Gods
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Baking Time:45 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans (walnuts as per original recipe)
2. 2 cups of white whole wheat flour
3. 1/2 tsp baking soda
4. 1/2 tsp baking powder
5. 1/4 tsp of kosher salt
6. 1 lb pound mejdool dates pitted and cut lenghtwise into 4 pieces
7. 3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperatuer
8. 1 cup of brown sugar
9. 4 large eggs at room temperature
10. 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Bake the cookie in the middle rack. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Roast the pecans or walnuts for 8-10 minutes, shaking partway and then cool completely.
3. Grease a 9 x 13 pan and line the baking pan with parchment paper with generous overhang and set aside. Coat the sides and bottom of the pan over the parchament with nonstick spray.
4. In a smaller bowl mix about 1/3 cups of the flour with the dates and pecans till well coated.
5. In a mixing bowl whisk togethere flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt until fully incorporated.
6. In another bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
7. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking to incorporate one eggs before adding the next one.
8. Whisk in the vanilla extract and then the flour in two batches till incorporated.
9. Add in the pecans and dates mixture also in two batches till fully incorporated.
10. Transfer the batter to the baking pan and even out the top.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes rotating from front to back half way through. The edges and top should be browned with a golden crust. A skewer inserted should come out clean.
12. Remove using the overhanging parchment cool and cut them into bars.

Serve the warm bars with some ice cream. Heaven!! Like what you are reading? Subscribe!