Jennifer Lopez ~ I'm Real
Sara Sant'Ambrogio ~ Ave Maria
Damien Rice ~ The Blower's Daughter
Newton Faulkner ~ I Need Something
I made these for a dessert for a Middle Eastern inspired meal I made for My Love and our friends D & B. The recipe comes from The Joy of Vegan Baking
by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. They were light and not overly sweet. We all enjoyed then and enjoyed the leftovers the next day. lol. The next time I make them I may make double the filling though as we all said more date would've been great. 
Dates Bars
(Recipe from The Joy of Vegan baking)
filling
1 1/4 cups/285ml water
16 - 18 pitted dates, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
topping
3 cups/240g quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups/185g all purpose flour (1 used wholemeal plain)
1/2 cup/100g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup/170g non dairy marg (I used Pure Sunflower)
1/4 cup/60ml canola oil, melted (I used Sunflower)
1/4 cup/60ml water (optional) (I didn't need to use any!)
Pre-heat the oven to 350'C/180'C/Gas Mark 6. Line a square baking tin or brownie tin.
To make the filling; bring the water to a boil in a saucepan then add the salt and chopped dates. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the dates are soft and mix easily with the water. Remove from the heat and then stir in the vanilla. Leave to cool.
To make the topping; in a large bowl, thoroughly combine the oats, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder/soda and the cinnamon. Add the marg and the oil and stir until totally combined with the dry ingredients. You want it to be moist but not wet. If too dry use the optional water until desired consistency is reached.
Press half of the crust mixture into the bottom of the lined dish. Spread the date mixture over the base, spreading it out so it thoroughly covers the base. Pour remaining topping over the dates and smooth out and across, covering the dates.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is lightly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into bars.
We enjoyed these with a drizzle of Soya Cream.
