The other day I did something I haven’t done in quite a while: in a moment of desperation and due to lack of other snacks, I purchased an overpriced Nutrigrain Bar to hold off my hunger pangs until my next meal. My options were few, and for some reason something soft with sweet chewiness in it sounded perfect.
Next thing that happened: me inhaling and being like “omg yum why did I forget about these for like 8 years?” followed by obsessive craving for something so sweet and soft for days.
Fast forward a week, post-crazy travels, and I am in my kitchen, bored, craving these again, and without much in my pantry. Determined, I bake a soft, oatmeal filled breakfast bake of sorts. To satisfy my desire for the something sweet’n’gooey, I puréed some dates’n’raisins together to make a paste. Jam would also work for these, I simply had none and had roughly a cup of dates and a fresh bag of raisins in the pantry.
Speaking of raisins, I’m into them lately. When I was in New York this week, they popped up in a lot of unexpected meals, like the protein-packed kale salad from Peacefood, on tartines from LPQ, and in savory pasta dishes. I really enjoyed them. Raisins deserve more street cred. plan to give them some soon in future posts.
Back to the bars, I decided that the date-raisin layer was sort of ugly and should be covered. I made the bottom layer of these a bit too thick to add a top layer, so I quickly made a crumb topping, which ended up adding a nice textural contrast to the muffin-like bottom layer and ooey gooey date layer. If you know me, you know I’m really into textural contrasts (which is why if I ever get regular ice cream or froyo I simply must add chocolate and/or nuts as toppings #princessproblems), so this ended up delighting my mouth with an assortment of mouthfeels.
Besides delicious and soft, these are cinnamony, slightly sweet, and perfect for breakfast or snacks. I dig them. I hope you do too.
