Chewy Oats,Dates,Figs and Orange Crumb Bars

I am in a spring cleaning mode these days, the reason being my mother coming to stay with us for few weeks. So I am fearing that she may notice a speck of dust here or there and look at me with her questioning eyes... there is no way that any dirt or dust can escape her eyes...though I am myself a cleanliness freak my mother tops me in this aspect... she successfully manages house and office with great finesse.

But I am too happy also... I will get to eat lot of good food prepared by her... she prepares countless yummy dishes... and I hope I will be able to post some yummy laddoos made by her.

Now coming back to these bars... I agree that the title is too long, but there is no other way to describe these healthy bars...they are filled with goodness of oats, dates, figs, oranges ,walnuts and made with whole wheat flour. So I have been taking 2 of these bars in my breakfast along with my favourite cup of ginger chai and I am all geared up to do some more of cleaning :-)

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

Dates- 1 cup (pitted and chopped)

Dried Figs- 1 cup (chopped)

Orange Juice- 1/4 cup

Zest of 1 orange

Walnuts- 1/4 cup( chopped)

Water- 1/2 cup

Salt- a pinch

Nutmeg Powder- 1/4 tsp

For the crumbs:

Quick Cooking oats- 2 cups

Whole Wheat Flour- 1 cup

White granulated Sugar- 1/4 cup

Dates Syrup- 3 tbsp

Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1/2 tsp

Butter- 2 tbsp

Whole Milk- 1/4 cup

Procedure:

• Mix all the ingredients of the filling except zest and walnuts and cook in a saucepan for 10 to 15 minutes or till everything gets mushy.
• Switch off the gas and mix in the orange zest and walnuts.
• Prepare crumb mixture by mixing all the ingredients nicely. The final mixture should be crumbly but should hold together when pressed.
• Grease a square baking dish and spread half of the crumb mixture in bottom of the pan and press down.
• Now spread the filling mixture evenly on top of the crumb mix.
• Spread remaining half of crumb mixture on top of the filling and press gently.
• Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree C for about 25-30 mins or until crumbs turns golden.

Cool and cut into square pieces.

Sending this to Hearth and Soul # 31

Also sending this to Lite Bite's WWC- Whole wheat in Breakfast event

Sending this to CWF- Oats event started by Sumadhura and hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes and Champa's Bake off.