DI’S DATE AND APPLE SQUARES

This has nothing to do with watercolours, apart from the fact that during a recent Aquarellista session, Di brought her home-made Date and Apple Squares and they were SO mouthwatering delicious that I asked her for the recipe, for all of us. 

225g butter
200g apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
140g stoned dates, roughly chopped
160g light dark sugar
175g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g porridge oats



- Heat the oven to 190C. Grease an 18cm square tin and line with baking parchment.
- Put the apples into a pan with 2tbs of water. Bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for 5 -10 mins until tender and slightly pulpy. Add the dates and cook for a further 5 mins. Take off the heat and either mash with a fork or put the apples and dates in a mixer and whizz until smashed up.
- Gently melt the butter in a saucepan. Mix the flour, bicarb, oats and sugar in a bowl. Pour in the melted butter and stir well until oats are coated.
-Press three quarters of the oat mixture firmly into the tin, spread the apple mix on top and smooth over. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly on top.
- Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and firm. Cool in the tin before cutting into squares.
- Enjoy!