Delicious! This favorite recipe has been passed down in the family for many years. It has lots of date filling and can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.
Water can be substituted for orange juice.
Matrimonial Squares aka Date Squares are a Christmas tradition in my home. The orange and vanilla in this recipe really add a delicious flavour and put them over the top. I do like to bring my dates to a boil while constantly stirring, then turn them down to low to get a nice thick paste. I also use a potato masher to press the oatmeal crumb into the pan, then I also do the top to compact the date square mixture which makes it more solid and easier to cut once cooled. Mine baked in 40 minutes in a parchment lined 9x9 pan. Thanks for the great recipe, a wonderful addition to my Christmas baking this year. My recommendation for date part, 1 lb dates, 1 cup orange juice, 1/8 cup brown sugar, 1 heaping tsp orange zest and 1/4 tsp salt.
Read More Matrimonial Squares aka Date Squares are a Christmas tradition in my home. The orange and vanilla in this recipe really add a delicious flavour and put them over the top. I do like to bring my dates to a boil while constantly stirring, then turn them down to low to get a nice thick paste. I also use a potato masher to press the oatmeal crumb into the pan, then I also do the top to compact the date square mixture which makes it more solid and easier to cut once cooled. Mine baked in 40 minutes in a parchment lined 9x9 pan. Thanks for the great recipe, a wonderful addition to my Christmas baking this year. My recommendation for date part, 1 lb dates, 1 cup orange juice, 1/8 cup brown sugar, 1 heaping tsp orange zest and 1/4 tsp salt.
Date squares are a tradition at our house as well but I usually follow my mom's recipe. I saw this recipe and just had to try it and I'm so glad that I did. This will be my go to recipe from now on. The orange really elevates these squares to a new level of deliciousness. The only change that I made was to sprinkle about 1 tbs of raw sugar over the top layer before baking. Thanks for sharing.
I’m going to say that this recipe is near perfect for me, except it is too sweet, as I don’t normally eat refined sugar. I will have to add half of the sugar to the crumb, which will in turn mean half of the salt, and most likely add no sugar to the filling. I did not add any orange peel since I didn’t have any but still absolutely delicious!
Very tasty! Tastes like those much mom used to make, Even my wife liked them, and she doesn’t really care for dates!
I made some changes because of dairy issues. I used Becel Vegan Spread and Robin Hood gluten free flour, and gluten free oats. I followed the recipe and the squares turned out excellent. Thank you for sharing.
Turned out good although I did not use brown sugar, I used coconut palm sugar and only half from what was called for in the recipe. I also used a gluten free flour substitute and not quite all the butter mentioned either. Really work hard at padding it all into place so not too crumbly.
Made this with two changes---used margarine instead of butter and gluten-free dry ingredients. Otherwise no changes. The bottom and top layers turned out brilliantly, and the filling is to die for. Rather than a regular orange, I zested a Clementine orange and it was awesome. Would for sure make this again!
Excellent taste, a bit sweet for me so next time I will cut the sugar a bit. I didn't have OJ so used Mango juice, really yummy and couldn't taste the mango flavor so the bars still have that traditional flavour.
This turned out soooo good! I did not have the amount of dates called for, so the final result had a thinner date filling. I made the reg amount of base and topping. I cut back on the sugar for the date mixture by at least half. The orange flavour came through beautifully. Will definitely make this again.
