Filling, crumbly, rich and unctuous, these date and hazelnut bars are delicious. A hint of orange and chocolate chunks in this recipe give additional flavour and take the traditional date slice to new levels. Just what you need for a delicious fuelling stop when adventuring in the great outdoors.
A White Christmas
For Christmas this year, we were going take a break from tradition and have Christmas lunch on the beach with friends. Something robust, nutritious, filling and delicious was needed for this and what better candidate to take along than Dan Lepard’s chocolate crumble date bars.
This was yet another post I first saw on Suelle’s fabulous blog, Mainly Baking as her October entry for We Should Cocoa. It was only a matter of time before I gave them a go and if Suelle had not already done so, I would probably have entered them for this month’s date challenge.
As it happened, the weather provided us with a most magical cold, crisp and snowy Christmas. The downside was that traveling by car was out.
And thus it was that we didn’t make it to the beach after all. The roads were just too difficult to negotiate. So we had a good old stomp around Bodmin Moor instead.
It was a glorious day, sunny and without a breath of wind. We sat atop Sharp Tor and ate our sandwiches, with coats and hats stripped off. As we ate the date and hazelnut bars, we surveyed the wonderful snowy scenery that lay before us for miles around.
Dan’s Chocolate, Date & Hazelnut Bars
The slices were just what I was hoping for; filling, crumbly, rich and unctuous. The hazelnuts gave a lovely crunch and the chocolate pieces an unexpected and welcome addition. I had been a bit concerned that, because of their crumbly nature, they wouldn’t hold together very well.
Luckily, they were in fine fettle by the time we made it to our lunch spot and that was despite being bumped around in a rucksack for an hour or two. Thanks to Dan for this much appreciated take on the traditional date slice.
Other Date Recipes You Might Like
- Barbecue sauce (vegan)
- Chocolate, date & walnut trifle
- Coconut bliss balls with medjool dates (vegan)
- Maamoul: date & walnut stuffed cookies
- Salted caramel sauce (vegan)
- Whole roasted cauliflower with dates & tahini sauce (vegan)
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these chocolate, date and hazelnut bars, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Date & Hazelnut Bars. PIN IT.
Dan’s Date and Hazelnut Bars – The Recipe
Chocolate Date And Hazelnut Bars
Ingredients
- 375 g dates pitted
- 1 orange juiced and zested
- 100 ml water
- 75 g hazelnuts (or use ready roasted hazelnuts)
- 125 g unsalted butter fridge cold and cubed
- 250 g wholemeal flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 125 g light muscovado sugar
- 100 g milk chocolate roughly chopped (I used Green & Black's 35%)
Instructions
- Simmer the dates, orange juice and water in a pan for ten minutes until soft. Leave to cool.375 g dates, 1 orange, 100 ml water
- Roast the hazelnuts for ten minutes at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) , then rub off their skins with a kitchen paper or a clean tea towel and roughly chop. Omit this step if you have ready roasted and skinned hazelnuts.75 g hazelnuts
- Place the butter, flour, baking powder, cocoa, orange zest and sugar into a large bowl. Rub together between your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.1 orange, 125 g unsalted butter, 250 g wholemeal flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 125 g light muscovado sugar
- Stir in the chocolate and hazelnuts.100 g milk chocolate
- Press two thirds of the mixture into the bottom of a 23 cm (9") sq silicone mould or lined baking tin until firm. The back of a spoon is good for this.
- Spread the date mixture over the top in an even layer.
- Stir a tbsp of water into the remaining third of the crumble to make the mixture clump up a little.
- Spoon over the date layer.
- Bake at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 30 minutes.
- Leave to cool then cut into 16 squares.
Choclette says
Chele – well I haven’t managed it yet either – one day 😉
Dom – glad you approve 😉
C – thank you. Glad you enjoyed these bars – I thought they were well worth making.
C says
It looks like you had a wonderful day – lovely photos!
I made these bars for this month’s I should Cocoa too and was so impressed with them. Left out the nuts, but otherwise made as written and the date/orange layer was a revelation! Yum, I can well understand that they were perfect for walking!
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
GLORIOUS!!!!! genius idea…
Chele says
Your idea for spending Christmas Day at teh beach threw me a bit! Being Aussie born and bred I can also confess to never having spent Christmas Day at the beach … backyard barbies are much more common lol. Great looking bars, especially love the photo of bubbles with the snowy backdrop!
Choclette says
Janice – thanks. Hope you had a good day too.
Gillian – glad the bars made it into the challenge. I know they are there for hazelnuts, but they deserve their rightful place in the date challenge too 🙂
Suelle – this is true. Dan has a well deserved fan club.
Kath – the beach would have been nice, but it would have been an hours car journey either way. The moors meant we were pretty much straight out there in the lovely weather walking.
Joanna – It’s hard to believe that weather now – it’s grey, raining and blowing a gale. We were very lucky and it was much appreciated.
BVG – Thanks. You probably got as much exercise as we did toing and frowing from the fridge. I’ve done no proper cooking at all over the last few days.
Johanna – You have disillusioned me – I thought all Australians spent Christmas Day on the beach 😉
Johanna GGG says
Two wonderful date and chocolate recipes – love these bars and all your wonderful snowy Christmas pics – sounds like you had a wonderful day – strangely as an Australian I confess the only time I went to the beach on Christmas day it was cold and windy! But not snowy at least!
Brownieville Girl says
Man – the most walking I did on Christmas day was to the fridge!!!!
Glad you had such a lovely day.
Joanna says
What a glorious way to spend Christmas Day – we had that sunshine too, wasn’t it a wonderful treat? I have used dates in a bar from another recipe of Dan’s a few years ago, they do make the most delicious filling.
Will have to look at this recipe again when I have recovered from Christmas food!
Maybe I need a walk on Bodmin Moor too 😉
Kath says
What a wonderful way to spend Christmas Day, sorry the weather stopped you getting to the beach but Bodmin looks like it might even have been better. xx
Suelle says
Glad you liked the bars – it’s a super recipe, but that’s what we expect from Dan Lepard!
Gillian says
I don’t believe it Choclette. SNAP! Made similar bars with dates for We Should Cocoa. Wise minds think alike??
Janice says
Great photos, sounds like a perfect day.