Grandma’s Best Butter Crumble Date Bars

(This article may contain affiliate links and advertising. As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Read our privacy policy.)

The comforting warmth and buttery goodness of Grandma’s Best Butter Crumble Date Bars! If you’ve never eaten date treats, you’re so missing out. My family has Slovak roots on my mother’s side, and I grew up loving these very special Slovak grandma treats (Slovaks love dates). The rich caramel sweetness of dates, nuts, and citrus is balanced by the buttery crunchy crumble crust. I love chocolate, but I will definitely fight you for the last date bar and leave the brownie on the plate.

Why make these Butter Crumble Date Bars?

You may be very used to chocolate caramelitas and fruit crumble bars, with their rich or tart filling between gloriously messy oatmeal shortbread type layers, but if you haven’t tried a date version–you haven’t yet lived, let me tell you. Dates are pretty magical. Something like a fruity caramel, with a dark smoky flavor, they pair so well with oatmeal crumble, brown and crispy from the oven.

They get better too–as leftovers, these are superb. Just messy enough to be fun–like any good crumble–these take me right back to happy times and Grandma’s house smelling amazing. I love to make these any time of year, but especially in the winter when I’m in need of some warm good cheer!

What you need:

Here are the ingredients for Grandma’s Best Butter Crumble Date Bars

• Dates
• Water
• Granulated Sugar
• Salt
• Lemon Juice (or orange juice)
• Nuts (Walnuts or Pecans)
• Raw Uncooked Oatmeal
• Flour
• Brown Sugar
• Baking Soda
• Butter

How to Make Butter Crumble Date Bars

Chop the pitted dates into rough pieces about 1/4-1/2 inch–watch for any pits that got missed!–and cook them in water until soft, stirring as needed. They should still be chunky but tender, and they tend to get a warm caramel-dish smell as they get to the cooked stage. Then add granulated sugar, salt, lemon juice, and chopped nuts. Cook until mixture is thickened. Set the filling aside to cool a bit while you make the crust layers.

Next, measure your dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. I always use Grandma’s favorite bowl for good luck. It has produced a lot of wonderful treats in a hundred years! Cut in your chilled butter to the dry ingredients and mix with pastry cutter and/or fingers until it reaches the texture of coarse crumbs. Add in another 1/2 C chopped nuts if desired for extra crunch!

Divide your crumble mixture exactly in half, and loosely press half of the mixture into the bottom of your greased 9×13′ pan. Spread the filling mixture over this (unbaked) layer. Hint: it is MUCH better to drop your filling in evenly distributed spoonfuls over the crust, then spread with spatula. The crumble bottom is easy to disarrange while spreading, so be gentle!!

Finally, crumble the remaining crust mixture over the spread filling layer, and bake at 375F for about 35 minutes. This will vary somewhat depending on how hot your oven is, and warning–dates are easy to burn. I often pull them out at 25 minutes when they are turning slightly golden brown and crispy. Too long, and your edges get burnt and tough. Perfectly cooked dates are a triumph, and burnt dates are NOT good. Trust me. Watch these bars closely!! They are so worth it.

Serve hot, with ice cream (I love Breyers Natural Vanilla), or just plain. The next day, the flavors will have blended a bit more and they are almost better the second day–kind of like stir fry….But I totally won’t argue with fresh out of the oven goodness. I also have been known to eat these for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Obsessed? Yes. No shame.

The moral of this story is: I know a dessert with dates rather than chocolate sounds unconventional, but once you try, you won’t be able to keep these butter crumble date bars out of your lineup of favorites. Thanks Grandma–love you! S’Bohom!

For more of grandma’s favorites, don’t miss her famous Butter Apple Pie recipe! Hint: Butter is the star again!