Hello everyone! First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS! :) Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and spend quality time with your friends and family and loved ones. I'm going to keep this post short and simple since I have to go back to spending some quality family time :) haha!
Anyways, today I baked Food For the Gods! I actually received a package from Faye several days with some lovely holiday goodies. She sent me chocolate-dipped anise biscotti, keflet cookies, and Food for the Gods! I loved all of them but the Food for the Gods was definitely my favorite. It was actually my first time trying it but the slight sweetness from the dried dates, crunch from the walnuts, and the chewy texture of the bar itself was SOOO good! And it's nice and buttery. Let me tell you, you just MUST make this as soon as you have walnuts and dates in hand! GO GO~! I'm going to actually go grab some more to eat right now! hahaha :)
Food For The Gods
From Faye
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pitted dates, chopped
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs
1 cup walnuts, rough-chopped
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F and place rack in the upper middle position. Line 9" x 13" rectangular pan with aluminum foil, slightly grease and set aside.
2. Sift 3/4 cup of the all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl. Meanwhile, sift the remaining 1/4 cup of flour separately and use to dredge the chopped dates.
3. Using a wire whisk, combine melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and eggs in a large bowl. Mix well until all the sugars are dissolved then add the honey. Add vanilla extract (I accidentally forgot this part till the end). Continue mixing until creamy.
4. Fold flour into the batter using a rubber spatula in 3 different additions. Lastly, fold the dredged dates and walnuts.
5. Pour the batter to the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes when using a 9”x13” pan. (I baked for about 30 minutes since I used a bigger pan). It should be done when skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. Cool completely before slicing into bars. I suggest refrigerating for an hour before slicing. I like it chilled before eating as well because then I get the chewy texture which complements the walnuts.
PS. This is not very figure friendly but since it's the holiday and since there are walnuts which are healthy for you (sorry, my lame excuse). I think this is definitely worth it! I mean, you MUST eat during the holidays right? haha :) Happy baking & good day!
PPS. Excuse the photo quality of the finished products. Natural light disappeared! :(
1 comments:
Hi Michelle! Your FFTG looks yummy! Actually there's one more ingredient/step that I forgot to include- brushing the cake with brandy as soon as you take it out of the oven. The first time I made it, I followed my cousin's recipe to the letter but it came out like a moist cake because the chopped dates were moistened with brandy and it has molasses too. I just didn't like it that way so I kinda tweaked the recipe and reduced the sugar. I think it was still a tablespoonful over my preferred sweetness level so you were right in decreasing it to a quarter of a cup. Good job!
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