Well Loved Mom's Recipes - Date Squares
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ธ.ค. 2024
- Welcome back to the kitchen for another episode of the Old Cookbook Show! Today, we’re diving into a nostalgic recipe for date squares from a well-loved community cookbook, sent in by one of our amazing viewers. This cookbook, held together by string, is full of hand-typed recipes and handwritten notes, making it a treasure trove of old-school baking knowledge. Join me as we bring these delicious classic date squares to life, using simple ingredients like dates, sugar, and flour, mixed with a little love from the past.
If you're a fan of traditional baking recipes and vintage cookbooks, this episode is for you. I'll guide you through the process, from making a rich, sticky date filling to achieving the perfect crumbly top layer. And don't miss the bit about our high-quality aprons-a great gift for any home chef!
Give this recipe a try and bring a piece of culinary history into your home. If you enjoy the video, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more delicious recipes from our collection of old cookbooks. And if you want to support the channel, check out the link below to grab your own apron!
Don't forget to check out our other vintage recipes, including the fan-favorite Date Custard Pie! Thanks for watching!
DATE SQUARES
1 1/2 C. Flour
1 2/3 c. Rolled Oats
1 c. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Soda
¾ c. Butter - add to dry ingr.
Mix with pastry blender.
1 lb. Dates
1 C. Hot Water
½ c white sugar
Cook on stove stirring until thick.
Spread ½ of butter & dry ingr. mixture on pan. Pour over cooked date mixture then add other ½ dry ingr.
Cook at 325 degrees for ½ to ¾ hr. or until brown. If heat is turned up for a few mins. at the last it will help it to brown.
Eleanor Taylor
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I did a bit of sleuthing for an origin for the cookbook. Mrs Olive Smoothy and Mrs Birdell Wilson are on the voter's list for Peterborough in 1953 and 1972 respectively, and Hilda Gertrude Doughty died in 1961 and was buried in Peterborough (Little Lake Cemetery, which is nondenominational so doesn't help us guess at a church the book could have come from). I couldn't find most of these names on the 1931 census so they probably weren't married yet at that time. So I'd guess the book was printed between 1940 and 1961, say.
Good detective work ❤
Excellent sleuthing!!
I love that I can count on someone in the comments to beat me to the research whenever mysteries come up. I rarely get to be the one to do the sleuthing but I’m so happy that there’s a community out there that is ready to jump into action at any moment
@@narasimha-dev YES!
Thank you!
My grandma made killer date squares. She would add a pinch of cinnamon, lemon juice and ginger to the dates and I remember one time, unabashedly, just eating the whole pan of squares. She was mad but I got a good memory out of it :) Date squares are one of my favourite things and yes, they definitely make me love her even more now that she is gone. I do have her handwritten recipe, along with her potato donuts and butter tarts!
Glen my mom has that same cookbook and she's dead now but we use that cookbook quite a bit and specifically for those date bars and I have been looking for that recipe because my brother will not hunt down the cookbook I have been hunting that recipe for 15 years
Wow! Now you have it! 🎉
Any idea about its origins?
I'm so glad that you at least have your date bar recipe 😊
@@cleementine no but my grandmother would make two huge roaster pans for Christmas and we loved it when they were about a week old because they would get a little harder and we could dunk them in coffee
@@llchapman1234 you know I tell you glen is the only one I know of that collects old recipes. I actually subscribe to him years ago hoping he would have this recipe. So bravo Glen. 😘
Rhubarb jam in a thin layer is a old Icelandic version called Marriage bliss or Hunters bliss.
I love the old cookbook show. I usually wake up Sunday morning and make a cup of coffee, then sit down and open TH-cam and there it is
love date squares. I use some orange juice and zest in the date preparation which cuts the sweetness and adds to the flavour
Great tip! Thanks.
An annotated cookbook is a treasure. I imagine you losing an entire afternoon or more just reading this, Glen.
Glenn, several of the recipe authors- Birdell Wilson (1916-1992), Helen Boorman (1911-2003), Olive Smoothy (1912-2006) and Ida Beeler (1903-1978)- were from Peterborough, Canada
The old cookbook shows are my favorite thing you do on this channel, Glen. These old church cookbooks are such amazing time capsules!
I'm at least a decade younger than you, Glen, but when I was in primary school in Australia (that's elementary or grade school to you, I think) one of the greatest joys was being selected to go and collect the class's copies of the school newsletter from the office. As you entered the printing room, the heady smell of the ink from the Gestetner machine (the only name I ever knew it by) would waft into your nose and transport you somewhere else for a few seconds. (Looking back, I dread to think what chemicals were in that stuff!)
Loved this recipe, and looking forward to more from this cookbook.
The joy that you have for what you do, triumphs or fails, is contagious. Sunday morning isn't Sunday morning without you and Julie as the side to my coffee. Thank you so much for what you do.
This book is such a treasure. Love how old the sticky tape is, yellow and more than likely brittle. When you look at your own or someone else’s cookbooks that are stained and have hand written notes, you know they have been loved.
Is it a Gestetner machine you are thinking of? I have a couple of similar cookbooks (stains and loose pages included). I know one of the books was from my brother’s preschool in the 1970’s and the other was a church cookbook, also from the 70’s. I love that the pages fall open to my mum’s most used recipes and have her hand written notes. She passed away from cancer in 1988 at the very young age of 38. Ironically, she operated and made the sheets for the Gestetner machine in an office she worked in during her late teens.
Gestetner! Used one of those when I worked at my local church. Great catch @traceybradshaw!
My mom made something like this during the 80's but instead of dates she would use a jar of mincemeat that you could buy on sale during the holidays. This brought back childhood memories.
Oh my goodness Glen ... this was one of my mothers favorite things to make. I remember helping her by using kitchen shears to "chunk up" the dates - some pieces were intentionally left bigger because, like you, we liked it chunky, but she would always toast the crust a bit before adding the dates in the event there was too much moisture in them. This recipe makes me miss my mom more - thank you for the happy thoughts. ❤
I squealed when I saw date squares on this video. My mom, who passed when I was little, made those! That is a happy, happy memory!
And….thank you for posting the recipe❤
I think I might try this recipe with dried apricots and sultanas. It looks really good!
My gran did this with all sorts of dried fruit. I've done it with everything from dried apples to figs, to peaches, prunes/plums, cherries, blackberries, raisin. You can use jam, or pour canned fruit into a 9x13 and use the oat mixture on the top.
Very useful!
Aaaaaahhhhhh, memories of the ditto machine, well, what the ditto machine produced…..i.e. the blue-inked exams…..and if I was the one sitting at the front of a row of desks, I would get to sniff the sheath of exams that my teacher handed me before taking one and passing the rest back. The Best part about taking an exam! And I love Glen and Friends videos right till the end (I wish I could smell them!)
We sniffed the purple inked papers at my schools in VA, too.
They were Xerox copies when I was a kid because that was the machine used. If the copies were fresh you had not only the smell but the ink would smear if you weren't careful.
@@claudiaguy3782 🎯 I wish that too!
Our machines were called Roneo or Gestettner.
Our school called it the mimeograph machine (USA Pittsburgh area circa 1970's)
Ooh, this takes me back. No, my mother didn't make these, but one summer during college when I was a 20-year-old intern reporter in a city hundreds of miles from home, I found a department store deli and bakery downtown which offered homey comfort when I needed it. I'd sometimes run in there during "lunch" and grab something. That is where I first saw date bars, dusted with confectioner's sugar. So good. The friendly lady behind the counter saw me looking at them, and she gave me a sample. I was sold! I've never tried to duplicate them, but I'll attempt this recipe to see if it comes close. Thank you for sharing this.
I haven’t made date squares since last fall. I add the juice of a lemon along with the water. Thanks 😊
Watching from Germany. Love Date Squares❤
My mom used to make these when I was a child - 40+ years ago. I havent thought about these in so so many years, but it certainly brings memories flooding back!
@@MartinSteed you know I remember them lasting for weeks because they would be stored in a big roaster pan for Christmas and dunking them in coffee oh my goodness that was that was the greatest thing
I have very fond memories of the small of the mimeograph machine. I remember my mom making copies & I got to turn the crank.
Was the other one he mentioned Xerography?
@@williamjackson5942If it's the machine I'm thinking of, it was called a Spirit Duplicator. It used a clear liquid -- the spirit -- and it had a pleasant smell that all kids enjoyed sniffing. Lol
I grew up with the old Betty Crocker mix (no longer available) for these. I'm sure this recipe will be better. Thanks for posting the scratch recipe.
My mom would have loved this recipe, she made a similar date filling that got sandwiched between two round cookie layers like a Linzer cookie. They were a special, labor-intensive treat just for her dad. He could have had the same taste with a fraction of the work. Thank you for showing the recipe.
Love your show especially the Old Cookbook Show and wait to see you and Julie every Sunday morning. Love this recipe - also reminds me of my mother and grandmother's recipes, and I'm 79!!! All from New Brunswick tho all of us ended up in B.C. - I'm in Victoria. We all qualify for the old cookbook show ☺ I also started adding some orange juice and zest to the recipe similar to another lady's comments below.
Good memories. We will try the raisin and date variety . 😊
We called them date bars and they were one of my favorite childhood treats. ❤
My family, too. They’ve been a family favorite for four generations now.
We’re about the same age, I think the ‘printing machine’ you’re remembering might be a Gestetner. Was it the one where you had to turn a hand crank and the stencil rolled around a drum and copied onto a blank page. If we were _really_ lucky the teacher would choose 2 kids from the class to print off the sheets!
But that has nothing to do with that yummy looking date slice!
@@lindak8664 well apparently since you know the name of the machine that puts you A step above others I'll tell you but I remember it being called a milligram and yeah you just ran the ink through the stencils on a cylinder
Not milligram a mimeograph... My text-to-speech program is really weird
We called them roneo machines. 🙂
Gestetner was a brand name of duplicating machines. They made several different kinds.
Mimeograph was also a brand name which worked by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. Mimeograph became the word used for a number of different types of copying (strangely enough, Mimeograph became the word used for most spirit duplicators even though the Mimeograph machine was NOT a spirit duplicator).
Often called a "Ditto" (another brand name), spirit duplicators worked by placing a reverse wax image (drawn or typed) which contained the ink on the master and then rollers in the drum would transfer the image to the paper. Those had a very sweet smell and were quite popular (and were frequently misnamed as Mimeographs).
And finally, there were Hectographs, originally in which an image prepared with special inks was transferred to a sheet of gelatin which was then used to make copies. This technology has been refined and changed and is use in the arts, particularly by tattoo artists who prepare their "stencils" with a much more modern Hectograph printer.
I love you guys ! You are sooo married and so cute together. I am always chuckling or out loud laughing by the end of your videos
Looks perfect for breakfast in the Fall with a cup of coffee or tea.
Love, love, love Date Squares. My mom knew how to make a lot of desserts, but her Date Squares were for me at least, the down home dessert I enjoyed most. That recipe book is priceless and most assuredly my favourite to date. Thank you so much for sharing.
I think it's a mimeograph machine! I have memories of my nana and fig squares. She never made them herself though Nana was from the big city of Methuen Massachusetts and lived next to a wonderful bakery. 😁
I can’t even imagine how wonderful it would be to live next to a bakery!😂
Also known as Matrimonial Bars. A family favorite.
ahh yes, matrimonial bars ~ date bars
Of all the wonderful cookbooks featured - this is the one that I “want” …the notes!! ❤
Love your show. I watch regularly. I even watch some shows twice!! I wrote a recipe column for years so I particularly like the comments about the cookbooks themselves. I still have a small collection, altho I have downsized a few time now. Someday I'll package up the pre-1950 ones and send them off to you. I am not ready to part with anymore right now.
Love these! I used to choose it as my birthday cake!! On the prairies everyone called them Matrimonial Squares probably because they were served at every wedding “midnight lunch.”
I don't remember Mom ever making Date Squares, but every Christmas she made Date Balls, which were pretty much this filling with rice crispies added into the mixture and the resulting date paste rolled into small balls. Then she rolled them in coconut. I am allergic to coconut, so Mom always set about a dozen aside and rolled them in powdered sugar just for me. Lord, how I wish I could have a dozen Date Balls again!
I'm not fond of coconut so would have much preferred the ones she made for you!
Your date balls sounds like ones I make every Christmas. I never thought to roll them in powdered sugar!
I'm 61 from N.C. Mom made date nut balls with pecans (& rice crispies) and rolled in powdered sugar. Sometimes we got tired of rolling balls and squeezed them in our fist to about a pinky finger size.
This reminds me of my mom. She used to make these about once every couple of months. They were so delicious. My sister makes them now that our mom is now with our Lord. I miss her so much, but now we can still have her date squares. So good! Love you for making these on you tube. Miss you mom!
Date squares were my Dad’s favourite and I am 65 so our dates came in those 1 pound squares that my mom kept in a high cupboard because when she went to make the date squares there was only one date left in the package because my childhood self had eaten them all. Dates were my “candy”. Also I made my mother a lined pull over pocketed apron that got when she passed in 2015. I just wore it today when I made about 250 dog biscuit treats. I put them outside to cool in a container because I don’t have a cooling rack that big. When I opened the door to bring them inside just now a magpie was stealing one out of the box. I make such good dog treats that birds will eat them.
This whole video put a smile on my face. Love the cookbook and love date squares!
Missus here: Wow, that cookbook!! What a treasure! I remember when you could get date squares in a packaged mix at the grocery store. They were always a favourite of mine...thank you for the recipe!
I am so excited, I just bought an apron! And I always watch to the end. You guys are the best! ❤
I love date squares and make them regularly. What I don't get is why anyone would add sugar to the dates. They're incredibly sweet as they are. I usually cut them with some lemon or orange juice. A teaspoon of instant coffee is a decadent touch as well.
Coffee. Hmm. I like the sound of that.
@@TheDriftwoodlover it adds a little somethin somethin
@@TheDriftwoodlover It adds a little somethin somethin :)
The cookbooks I have that are about that vintage often had names of their husbands, like Mrs. George Brown or Mrs. Ralph Smith. If the name was simply a woman's name without a title then you knew it was a single lady. Or as my grandmother's friens would primly say, and unmarried lady. As though being married was the pinnacle of one's possible achievements.
My Mom made this around Christmas with all the other bars and cookies, and I love it, too, but hers calls for a little lemon juice in the cooking dates, it was just enough to take the sweet edge off! YUM!
Thanks Glenn...takes me back 60 yrs when I was in college and my Mom would send me these in a care package. ..... So good ..
love old cookbooks like this so classic, date squares yum
I remember my big sister making these and then how thrilled I was the first time I made these. I think I was 9 or 10, but they became a staple at home, more so than brownies.
Hi Glen, first time/long time! I felt compelled to send you a note after watching this video.
I have very fond memories of my Grandmother making raisins squares. Your recollection is, for the most part, my recollection. My grandmother was born and raised in Hamilton Ontario Canada.
I will have to make this, with substituted raisins. I’m sure it will be added to my thanksgiving table as well. Thanks for all your time and dedication to the cooking channel!
Jeff Ostrihon,
Lockport, NY
PS: one last quick thing, she also made Steak and Kidney pie. It was a staple for birthdays for my mother and uncles.
Made these this week. Only had 8 oz of dates so I used them with half of the amount of sugar, water. I made the dry ingredients as per recipe. With the exception of 1 and 2/3 cup of oat flour instead of regular flour. It's a keeper.😊
Love date squares, but when I was a kid we called them “matrimonial cake” because that was the name on the recipe mom had. Her recipe also had orange rind added to the filling.
Every Christmas, mom will make some date squares. Her recipe makes a big bunch so I always get to bring some home to eat during the Holidays! Love it!
This cookbook is a treasure! I could just sit for hours combing through it! Thank you to whoever sent this in; not sure if I could have given it up, but this community is definitely the richer for it! And these date bars look scrumptious!
Another favourite Canadian recipe that you will never find in the US. I miss Date Squares, Butter Tarts and Nanaimo Bars so much!
One day Glen hopefully we can a Glen and Friends cookbook 🎉🎉🎉
My mom baked me date squares to take to school for the Red Cross sale when I was in Elementary School many years ago. So good.
I think my favorite recipes to try are ones where Glen does his happy dance. You know they're good then!
Date squares were my favorite as well. My mom used to add orange juice which added a really nice flavour. Always freshly squeezed.
My grandma used to make half dates and half strawberry jam.
You had a terrific grandma.
My favorite tool in the kitchen is my immersion blender, which I would have used to chop the dates. I know you preferred the large chunks. I'm with Julie. Dates can be overpoweringly sweet. But years ago I enjoyed date nut muffins (walnut)...yes, I know, you prefer pecans. Love your presentations, Glen! Thank you. -Marilyn
I actually have some dates that have been sitting around too long in my kitchen. Will have to try this recipe out. Thanks!
I'm going to try this with rhubarb. Always looking for a good rhubarb square. Saw a short with Chicken. Then I fell into a rabbit hole of shorts. Great ones, some funny ones, informative ones. More chicken. lol
Matrimonial squares. A prairie staple.
Love this show
I've made this recipe with dates, (and dried fruits prepared the same was as the dates) apricots, figs, prunes and apples. Sugar was adjusted to taste. All turned out delicious.
I love this channel! Neber heard of date squares but really must try them now!
Glen, my mom had an awesome cranberry squares recipe.
My sister recently moved to New Brunswick, so unfortunately, I’ll have to start making those cranberry squares !
I hope you like cranberry squares perhaps you might try to make a batch !
I like date squares and remember making them. I also have made similar recipe using raisins instead of dates
We made this today and it was fabulous! It should be a thing!
My mom makes these (we call it Date Crumble) every December. It's not Christmas without it! The last couple years my brother made an extra batch with her and took them on his twelve-hour drive home. She uses the chopped and pitted dates straight out the bag.
If you haven't made these you MUST try it, and keep in mind Mom's sage advice: slice them into squares immediately after taking them out of the oven. Just use an ordinary table knife. They cut WAY more easily that way.
Thanks for another awesome video, Glen.
My Grammie from Detroit, Michigan made something similar to these. Her filling not only has dates, but also crushed pineapple and walnuts. They were delicious! I'm gonna see if I can find that recipe.
Wow! I haven’t had a date square in decades. My mother made them when I was growing up. She bought whole dates with the pits. She removed the pits and cut the date into pieces. I don’t remember the dates becoming a paste, so I would venture to guess that she didn’t chop them too small. Thanks for the reminiscing back to the 50’s and 60’s. I have never made them, but I will now!
I’m one of the few people I know who LOVES dates! I do remember these as my mom enjoyed baking and I still have her Irma Rombaugh book. We often had the English version with raisins…my dad called them squash fly cakes. Very popular in South Africa when I was a kid in the 50s and 60s.
Thanks Julie! Glad I'm not the only one!
Thank you for this episode. It sent me down a rabbit hole again as I’ve looked for decades for a recipe for a treat my mom used to buy from Heinemann’s Bakeries in the Chicago area in the ‘60s-‘70s. It was called China Chews and I inhaled them. It was much thinner than this, had the dates mixed into the batter, which also included chopped walnuts. It was thickly topped with powdered sugar. Very chewy. I think I found a suitable duplicate today and will try soon.
That sounds delicious! Will you share the recipe?
@@EastSider48215 It’s on the Stacey Snacks website. She calls them “Chinese chews.”
@@EastSider48215hmm. I responded with where I found it and it was removed
Thanks for the memories, Glen. Like a lot of other commenters, my Mom made date squares when I was a child.
Date Squares are something I've had numerous times. Its a Newfoundland favourite! Especially at Christmas 🎄
These were favorites in my childhood franco american maine family!
Lovely recipe, as always! Love the "Old Cookbook" videos!
I love the old cookbook show!
I always look for annotated cookbooks when at old book stores or flea markets. Well-loved, often used cookbooks are the absolute best!
My family makes Apricot Squares. Mostly apricots with a few dates. We also have a specific pan for them.
Date Squares, I know as Matrimony Bars. My aunt (lived in Markham) would make them. It was one of the baked goods that she regularly made. Another common baked good she made was pineapple upside down cake with maraschino cherries inside the pineapple ring. It was always served with Byrd's or Harry Horns custard.
Arizona has date trees coming into fruit. Always looking for new dishes to make with dates. Some of my favorites, pastilla - a morracan chicken/dried fruit dish wrapped in phyllo. A sweet treat, date shakes - yep! Throw overripe dates in your milkshake. I’m a chocolate lover yet prefer the vanilla ice cream with a date shake. Vanilla yogurt works well, too. Enjoy!
Oh my god! I'd forgotten about these. My mom made these as part of her Christmas baking every year when I was growing up. She's gone now so I plan to make these. Thanks for the memories!
Make the raisin brownies! 😄😉 Love your show - thank you so much for all the interesting recipes and fun 🤗🙏
Same method but with home made mincemeat augmented with dates is amazing.
love it when you channel me some date squares ...
My mother used to make these all the time. I love these and will be making these. Yum!
Looks like a simple recipe that would taste great! I think I might do this with dried apricots since I love that flavor!
I love date squares, and used to make them fairly regularly. I don't make desserts very often these days though.
The DITTO machine! Kids loved getting "ditto" sheets from that copy machine, because they smelled soooo goood.
The machines were called a Gestetner in my school, which I believe was the company that made the machine. Love this recipe. Reminds me of the squares I grew up with that my grandmother made. They were delicious.
date suqares are so good! and these kinds of books with stains, notes and added recipes in between pages are the best !
Glen, I think the coping machine you are thing of is the Gestetner Cyclograph machine. Okay I am not a baker or fancy cook but I enjoy you channel very much. You are one of the few cooks or chefs that tell viewers that they do not have to follow the recipe exactly. This is a far cry from most that say if not followed exactly the recipe will fail. Keep up your great teaching and cooking.
i had a craving for date squares, no dates, i substituted guava paste. nice variation.
Date squares!!! Yummmm! Still a fav and nostalgic memory of my Mom's baking prowess!!! Thanks Glen!
I have my mum’s 1943 university cookbook. I’ve halved the sugar both in the filling and topping and it still came out great!
OMG, that is my favourite sweet treat. My mother made them using the Betty Crocker recipe which other than cutting up the dates looks the same. Since her death in 1992 I have only made them once because they are pretty sweet. However I will be making them again without cutting the dates up and using a 9x9 pan.