Sorry about the longwinded title, but these beauties have so much in them and so much going for them and taste so good that it would have been wrong not to say so.
Makes: 16 squares
Time: Around 75 minutes
Level: Quite easy
Tins: 1 x 20cm square tin
Ingredients
Base
- 225g – 250g biscuits (digestives, oaties, Graham crackers in US etcetera)
- 30g caster sugar (plain or golden, or even granulated)
- 90g – 100g butter
Filling
- 175g dried dates, chopped
- 175g dried apricots, chopped
- 40ml – 60ml orange juice
- Zest from an orange
- 40ml – 50ml runny honey
Topping
- 125g flour (plain, wholemeal or a mixture)
- 125g oats
- 125g butter
- 40g soft brown sugar
- 20g demerara
Method
Biscuit base
1. Oven on at 190C/Fan 170C/375F/Gas 5. Grease and line the tin.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Whizz or bash the biscuits to create fine crumbs. Tip the crumbs and sugar into the saucepan and mix well so that it’s all combined and coated in butter.
3. Press into the tin and flatten well. (I use a lightly floured plastic dough scraper.) Place in the fridge while you get on with the rest.
Filling
4. Reserve some of the orange juice, but put everything else in a saucepan and simmer, stirring regularly, until the dates and apricots soften and meld together. Add the reserved orange juice when necessary. Use a fork or a potato masher or a stick blender to create a paste that will be malleable but not too runny.
5. Leave to cool for a few minutes then spread evenly over the biscuit base.
Topping
6. Mix flour and oats together then rub in the butter. (It doesn’t need to be like fine breadcrumbs, rough and ready should be OK). Stir in the sugar.
7. Spoon over top of the filling. Press flat, again using the flat side of a floured plastic dough scraper.) Sprinkle over the demerara.
8. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin then cut.
Retired Bloke on Food n stuff 