[cooked-sharing]
Date Filled Princess Bars
Princess Bars are those jam filled sweet, crumbly, coconutty encased treats that have been around forever. The bars are great for tea, picnics, in lunch boxes or a late night snack. They were a constant at our bakery and my father would cook dates with just a touch of lemon and some sugar for the center filling. This recipe was not in his journal, but I was very fortunate to find that my sister's friend, Carol had gotten a copy from my parents. They are really easy to make and will stay fresh for several days.
Equipment
- one 8"x10" baking pan approximately 1 1/2" to 2" deep
Ingredients
THE TOP & BOTTOM
- 4 cup King Arthur all purpose flour (510g)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (228g)
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (300g)
- 4 cup sweetened shredded coconut (325g)
- 1 Grade "A" large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (4.3g)
- 1/2 tsp salt (3g)
For the Filling
- 1 lb dates - finely chopped (453g)
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar (250g)
- 2/3 cup water (158ml)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (30g)
Instructions
For the Date Filling
- Chop the dates into small pieces. It is easiest to start with soft pitted dates.
- Place the dates in a heavy sauce pan and add the sugar, water and lemon juice.
- Place the pan over medium heat. Stir frequently to avoid scorching around the edges and bottom of the pan. Cook until all the sugar has melted and the dates have broken down into a chunky jam mixture. This takes about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Scoop the jam into a bowl and allow to cool.
For the Bottom & Top
- Preheat your oven to 325° for Convection bake and 350° for Standard bake. Line an 8"x12" baking pan with parchment paper. The parchment should be big enough to hang over the edge of the pan so the bars can easily be removed once baked.
- Place the flour, room temperature butter, coconut, egg, vanilla and salt in the bowl of your mixer. Turn the mixer on to medium and combine the ingredients. The mixture should still be crumbly looking. It should look a bit like streusel rather than a dough.
- Scoop one half of the mixture into your prepared baking pan and press it evenly along the bottom of the pan.
- Using a flexible spatula spread the date jam on top of the mixture. Again, spread as evenly as possible.
- Now top with the remaining "streusel" spreading it evenly over the top of the jam. You can use your hands or a small off-set spatula to compact the layers together. The topping should still have a crumble as shown in this photo.
- Place the pan on the center rack of your preheated oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top has just started to reach a light golden color and the edges are a bit brown.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, and then lift, using the edges of the parchment and finish cooling on a rack.
- To cut, you will have a much easier time if you chill them prior to cutting into bars.