1938 Date Sandwich (Date Squares) Recipe
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- This 1938 Date Sandwich (Date Squares) Recipe has always been a staple on our holiday dessert trays. Dates, Brown Sugar, and Oats!
Ingredients:
Filling:
500g (1 pound) dates, pitted and chopped
375 mL (1½ cups) water
5 mL (1 tsp) butter
110g (125 mL / ½ cup) packed brown sugar
5 - 10 mL (1-2 tsp) pure vanilla extract
Crust:
425 mL (1¾ cups) large flake rolled oats
280g (500 mL / 2 cups) all purpose flour
225g (250 mL / 1 cup) packed brown sugar
5 mL (1 tsp) baking soda
Pinch of salt
180g (175 mL / ¾ cup) cold butter
Method:
Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
In a small pot bring water, brown sugar, dates, and butter to a boil.
Stir and boil for 1-2 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool slightly.
In a food processor, mix together; rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, soda, salt, and butter.
Process to a fine mix.
Pour ½ of the oat mix into a 9x9” baking pan and pat down firmly.
Stir the vanilla into the slightly cooled date mix, and pour overtop the oat mix ‘crust’.
Evenly distribute the remaining oat crust overtop the date mixture and press down lightly.
Bake for 35-45 minutes.
Allow to cool before slicing.
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^^^^Full recipe in the info section below the video.^^^^
you should try a Calf's Head, or Mock Turtle :)
Glen & Friends Cooking Glen, who is Julie to you? Sincerely a new viewer.
Can you add walnuts or pecans
We called it matrimonial cake...
Western Canada
gosh , I adore dates , I was born in 1953 , my mother was 44 years old , I grew up eating dates , even squares called Chinese Chews , we would have had date sandwiches using here in N.Ireland , a Malt Veda Bread , sometimes even with sliced banana added , what memories of my childhood , nowadays I enjoy
an opened spreadout Medijool
Date on a lavishedly buttered Date and Wheaten Scones , absolute yum , at Christmas I still stuff Medijool Dates with marzipan , topped with a half glace cherry and dusted with icing/powdered sugar , they are always such a treat and a match made in heaven , just as my darling mother did all those Christmases ago , when things were far less commercial than they were now and the highlight was getting a gorgeous Red Mackintosh Apple , all the way from USA in the toe of your stocking , usually a pair of my Dad's Woolen Long Winter Socks , happy , happy days , must try these Date Squares , have never tried to make them , as my late beloved hubbie of 34 years , didn't like Dates and if I made them I would demolish the lot in two days flat !!!! LOL , thank you for sharing , so happy you took me right back 😊❤
In Iceland they call this "happy marriage cake", and there are all sorts of fillings. So many different varieties, and I've never had a bad one!
My mom ... born on the Northern border of Maine and New Brunswick (she was born in Maine) and she always made "Date Bars" ... we loved them as children. With my mom's passing "her recipe" went with her as she never had it written down. Happy to see this recipe here, I'm definitely going to give them a try and relive some amazing memories. Thanks for sharing.
My Grandmother used to make these (matrimonial bars, like Janet says for us prairie folks) for all the time. She did it entirely from memory and feel. There was never a recipe to pass down. Shamefully, we never took the time to try and write it down. All of the cooks in the family have been trying to recreate the bars, but they have never been quite right. I can't wait to try this recipe. It looks great and maybe I'll be the first to get this one right. Thanks for the video.
Good luck!
Even writing things down can be fruitless. I remember baking things my own mother wrote down in recipe format and she'd walk by sometimes and say, "Oh, I usually do this, not that." to which I'd toss up my hands in frustration. If you DO that, why didn't you WRITE that?? Sigh. Mothers. ;)
I was just about to say the same thing. Both my wife and I have been wanting to get a recipe that is just right. We actually had perfect date squares from a Tim Horton's, but the woman that made them wouldn't share the recipe, it was her family recipe.
I love these "older" recipes. I, too, agree figs would be yummy!
As he was pouring in the date mixture I thought to myself, I thought, "Figs would be grand in this!" It would be like fig newton in bar form. Mmm.
These make me think of my grandma, I sure do miss her. She always made date bars (squares) when we had Christmas dinner at her place. Those were the days.
We used to get the Betty Crocker box mix of Date Bars. Haven't seen them in forever. Haven't had one in 30 years. Thank you for this.
Someone said on another video that you're the Bob Ross of cooking and the more I watch the more I agree with that. It's just such a pleasant "try it and see" kind of vibe. Love the videos, especially the 1930's series.
Going through your videos and “Hello, friends!” always brings a little smile to my face. Hello fellow Canadian! :D
This is now my go to recipe for date squares. Absolutely perfect. Just like momma used to make!
I love date bars. Thanks for sharing.
In Saskatchewan we call them matrimonial squares. I don’t add sugar to the dates when I cook them. They are already very sweet.
No sugar added either, use orange juice and zest as well in the date mixture. Also made it with mincemeat.
I don't put in filling either. But sugar in crust needed to help keep it together. I made without as dates already so sweet but crust was very crumbly
My was an au pair for a wealthy Toronto family in the 1940’s. She brought this recipe with her to the states when she married my Father. She made these every Christmas and I love them.
OMG, this really takes me back. I ate this growing up. I was born in Montreal, and my mom used to have this cookbook that she pieced together from her weekly shopping. She started with a hard cover and the first section, you had to spend a certain amount of money at the store to get this, then every week they had a new section to add to the book. My mom got the entire book. I still think we still have it somewhere. It's written in french, but has some great recipes in it. I believe the recipe for this is in this cook book because my mom used this cookbook a lot when I grew up.
I hope they were Dalton's Dates. I used to work on the Dalton's Date line at Reinhart Foods in Stayner Ontario. Your videos on the 1938 Stayner Sun recipes bring back a lot of memories. Thank you for the memories.
We would see a tin of this every Christmas as a special gift. A little piece with a cup of tea and it brings back so many wonderful memories. Thank-you for bringing some of these older plain, simple yet tasty recipes back to life. I am off to buy some dates.
Well, they're not wrong! Dates are delicious! I grew up in date country, and I still don't think I could ever get tired of them.
Growing up in western PA in the 1950's-60's, all the bakeries had these. It was one of my favorites Sometime after they disappeared. I've looking for the recipe for decades. Thanks
This brings me back to my childhood. My mom still makes these when I come home.
Out of this world! Ahhhh, how you take me back to my childhood and right to my grandma's table! Thank you so much! I love how the past comes to life!
We really like these!
My mother made this all the time when we were growing up in Northern Ontario. Thanks for sharing. I’m going to make it this week for Canada Day! You’ve got a terrific channel!
I was super gung-ho to make this only to realize I didn't have any dates. I did however have a Costco sized bag of figs! (Thankfully you said other dried fruit could be substituted!) I had to pulse them in the food processor after cooked as the skin didn't "dissolve" like it does with the dates. I also like the texture of whole oats in the top crumble so I halved the crumble without, added half the oats to the processor for the bottom mixture then hand mixed in the oats for the top. Work out fabulous! The seeds of the figs added a fun "crunch" to the bars! Great recipe! Will make again!
Perfect timing for Ramadan
This is actually my personal favourite dessert. I rarely do it so it is a rare treat for me.
Every holiday has date squares here in South Western Ontario, almost as popular as the beloved butter tart during the holidays.
This is very similar to the Matrimonial Bar recipe my nana made when I was a kid, and it was always the only thing gone on the table, because it was so good! Her additions were coconut and nutmeg to the crust. So, so good!
Love date bars. When I was growing up, a local bakery did a variation using dates AND plum in the filling. Wonderful. I'm looking for a recipe!
I have this one in my old 1932 Purity cook book they call it matrimonial cake. they also have Maids of honour tarts :)
Date squares have always been a favorite of mine. My nephew, who lives in Cambridge, Ont. makes them with raisins in with the dates. They are to die for. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Y'all have a Blessed day.
I made this today and just finished having a piece, and its lovely. I do not have a food processor so grated the cold butter and rubbed it in with my fingers. I can see why its a favourite and look forward to making it again.
Great video.
Coconut in the crust and/or pecans in the date mix would be great.
36 slices from a 9-by-9 pan would be enough. The sugar load in that is fantastic.
Binge ⌚ ng your older videos. Happy place.
These date squares look amazing. I am definitely going to try this
One of my favorite desserts. I call them date bars.
I can’t stop watching your videos I have been binge watching for days now. As a fellow Canadian I love seeing all the uniquely Canadian content lol. Keep them coming my friend.
Date squares are DELICIOUS! Thanks Glen.
We kept wondering why some of the date recipes were always so sweet, we finally noticed that pre-chopped dates have sugar added to them. Raw dates you chop yourself likely don't. This looks really interesting, thanks for sharing!
New home, new recipe. Thanks chef.
Love Date Squares!!!! Thanks for posting. I really enjoy watching your experiments!
For many years mom made 'Tribley' bars. I looked high and low for a recipe only to find that the correct name is Trilby bars. They were mostly raisen but she often added a few dates too. Thanks for each video.
You guys are awesome.
It must have been a classic on the prairies as well. My Mom always made date squares. My sister hates them to this day because of how often they were served, haha. I like them.
Looks delish. Also, looks like we share a passion for the old cookbooks! Great video!
Really enjoying this channel. Most of your recipes are things I wouldn't cook, but its amazing to watch the processes. Thanks Glen and Julie!
I love the recipes and your dynamic so fun and informative. Can't wait to get cooking/ baking Thank You.
Good work
I’m with you on the vanilla I always add way more then most recipes call for : )
That looks delicious, not sure I could only eat a tiny square😁😁 Thanks Glen and Julie✌✌
I'm not even sure why I watch your videos, I burn microwave popcorn...🤣🤣🤣
niffumau The quality, the positive environment, and the hosts are just a few reasons to watch this channel.
Maybe you should pop it in a pot with some oil, then we can find out about your true burning up food potential and ability to start fires :D I only switched to an air popper from popping in a pot to lower the fat :D
YOU can do it. Just follow the directions. READ the directions and then choose to follow them. Don't let your dreams, be dreams.
Cranberry Bogz mess? I used one pot only for popping popcorn, and since I used stable fats, I would just remove the broken shell pieces before the next use. The air-popper sometimes misses the bowl so it makes a bigger mess 😆
Too bad UA-cam doesn't give us visible stats on number of comments posted. I want a commenting plaque 😊 Channels should get special recognition for popping posting cherries too 🤣
No, you cannot have too much vanilla 😁 Figs, hmmm, now that sounds delicious. Though I have not tried them yet, someone recently told me that I have to try Barhi Dates from Oasis Date Gardens... that variety supposedly melts in your mouth. Thanks for another great recipe.
This is another Christmas treat that my great-grandma made in Vancouver, and we continue to make since moving to the States in 1952. We have always called it “matrimonial cake”.❤️
My mom used to make this quite often, she called it, "Matrimonial Cake", from Vancouver
My father loves these. We make a double batch for his birthday and Xmas each year.
I used to make these back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I think the recipe was from a ringbound Betty Crocker cookbook from around 1976. I'm not sure whether the recipe was originally for apricots, but I used dates, or sometimes a mix of dates and raisins. I loved them!
Binge watched a lot of your videos over the past couple days really enjoyed them and i can't even cook lol hope to see more in the future! much love from the UK!
My grandmother used to make this with canned crushed pineapple. Yum!
Thanks for shareing
i used to make date squares and used a little honey instead of brown sugar in the saucepan.. love them
i love dates, this series should be renamed sunday morning date recipes
Great video
My friend, who was in her mid-eighties when she passed away gave me her mother's date square recipe along with her secret ingredient which was lemon to cut the sweetness. She never listed that in her ingredient list as it was HER secret. Apparently she won a lot of contests with her date square recipe .It really does work!
We always used a cookie sheet with a lip,or a jelly roll pan.
They would be thinner,and we cut them in rectangular bars,they were a bit crisper looking than your thicker ones and way yummy.
...They did not seem so overwhelming,like the thicker layer of dates and oats might, seem to be to me.
But they were more like cookies.
....Yours would be awesome,cut in smaller squares with a dollop of not to sweet whip cream on them...Yum!
....I cannot wait to try your recipe,just to see if it tastes different than mine.
Sometimes,I put a bit of cinnamon in the crust,and not so much vanilla,I do think you can have too much vanilla, I think it could add a bitter note, because to my taste buds, vanilla is like coffee, awesome.....but more is not always better,
.......I love the taste of dates and would be afraid,that too much vanilla might affect the the natural taste of the dates...just my opinion though,we do all taste things a bit diferently,perhaps.
Figs would work well . im going to have to make this either with dates or figs .
So I remember my mother making date squares and would always be helping her in the kitchen. I have noticed that when you are using dates for recipes you are using chopped dates. I'm assuming that that was not the case back then as most people back then were buying dates that were actually sold in small bricks like butter. So even though the taste profile might be the same the texture may be off a smidgeon. Also I'm not sure what type of dates they were, either sugar dates or medjool dates. I might suggest that they were sugar dates and this would definitely make a difference in the richness of the date squares. Just an FYI, the Canadian WW2, military rations would often have packed dates into them.
Love date squares 👍
Ramadan Mubarak
Oh these look SO good
That Lemon Apple Squares recipe also looks good!
My dad's favorite! We used to add a a couple of squares of chocolate to the dates.
amazing videos really enjoyable!
In summer I make it with crushed pineapple, very delicious
I need to try this soon. It's been many years since I've had a date bar.
Dates aren't very popular where I live, but I wonder if I could stuff chopped raisins in there. Also, I'd love to see the bloopers from that scrapped video! :D
My mom made a very similar recipe with raisins because dates were much more expensive. Heat 2 cups of raisins with 1 cup of water until raisins plump a bit, thicken with cornstarch mixed with cold water. My recipe doesn't give amounts. Maybe 1 T cornstarch and 2T water. Name of recipe is Crumb Cake and describes it perfectly because even if you pat it down well you get crumbs everywhere.
Nice
I really enjoyed this recipe I made it for my family LOVE IT 😍 it’s the holy month Ramada for us I promise you friends we’ll be eating every day
Your videos are pretty cool
This just makes me want nanaimo bars. I'm an expat living down in California, and I truly miss my parent's version.
I just made these today, they are YUMMY! I think I need to get better dates, I didn't use medjool dates, they didn't soften up enough or I cooked what I had too fast. But they are still good!
Out here in NL date squares were and still are quite popular for a rural (around the bay) treat. Could you take a look at the Jam Jam recipe next to it? It seems quite similar to Purity Jam Jams that are made in St. John’s (except with probably the most shortening/lard able to be put into a sandwich cookie ;) )
Picking up some Jam Jams today - we'll test out the recipe and do a taste test in a future episode.
My wife just heard you cut the 9x9 pan into 36 pieces and she almost fell off the couch. Around here we just grab a couple spoons and fight over who gets to hold the pan:) Great show!
I really like these videos! The old recipes are something very intriguing for me. I don't really like the modern Era and the direction this country is headed in many ways, especially nutrition. This allows me to disregard the past few generations and really tie into our ancestors.
I'm rewatching some of your videos. I remember Date squares, Nanaimo bars, and Chinese Chews. I can't find the recipe for Chinese Chews. Perhaps you could do a video on those?
These look quite similar to the raisin squares my school cafeteria in Arkansas served in the 80's and 90's. I've long wanted to find a recipe to make them.
Have added dates and apricots to tomorrow's shopping list.
Glen my friend, Im a measurement scientist by trade and periodically I like to try and recalibrate my ability to intuit distances and angles without directly measuring them. I wonder if this would be a fun exercise for you to do with culinary measures? See how close to the mark you are when you wing it in the kitchen. Let me know if you gibe it a shot! Thanks for the content.
I like when they include the recipe in the instructions and not some link to a crappy website.🙏
Yooo my used to make these for me when I was younger!!
They were always called “Date Squares” where I grew up in Northern Ontario.
You should try nanaimo bars-my husband's grandma made them all the time and they are really good.
Hi Glen, Noreen has some recipes on her channel for jam-like preserves made from dried fruit that would make an excellent filling. She had prunes, cherries, apricot and I think there was another one but I can't remember.
Noreen has some great recipes.
Very much not a fan of dates but still enjoy the vids
ty very much sir
We hand mix the crust in my family. You get more of a crumble texture that way
After watching this I called my cousin and asked if she would send her mother’s date bar recipe. This comes from far northwest Minnesota. The crust is the same as yours. The date portion called for no butter or vanilla. Same amt dates. Sugar was only 1 cup, water 1 . cup. Bake in 9x13 pan at 350 for 30 min.
this channel gives me real big America's Test Kitchen vibes
These were pretty ubiquitous at community functions in my youth in rural SK too. They’re really underrated imo.
I make these for Christmas but I add condensed orange juice ( About 2T) in the dates
In any recipe that calls for them, you can always add more vanilla, garlic, fresh ginger, or black pepper.
You folks are just too cute!
My grandma used to make tomato and raisin cake! Do you have the recipe?