Day 64: Crumbly Fall Fruit Bars

Yield: 12 bars
Time (Start to Finish): 35 min

Ingredients:
1 green pear
1 pluot
¾ cup chopped dates

2 cups flour
1 cup oats
¾ cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, cold, chopped in pieces
¼-1/2 cup half and half

¾ cup walnut pieces

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Take the pear, pluot and dates and cut into small bite sized pieces. You can leave the skins on for color
3. In a separate bowl, mix the oats, flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon
4. Add the butter and rub into little pieces with your hands until it resembles corn meal.
5. Add the half and half little by little until the dough is crumbly but sticks together when squeezed in your hand.
6. Take a little over half of the dough and press into the bottom of a casserole dish to make a bottom crust.
7. With the rest of the dough, add the walnut pieces and mix it up with your hand until crumbly
8. Take the fruit and dump it on top of the crust and spread out evenly
9. Add the oat/nut mixture on top by crumbling it and then pressing it down a little. You can leave some fruit showing through
10. Bake for 15-20 min or until begins to brown

Rating: 3.5 strawberries
Notes: Well, I had left over dates in the house, and a pluot, and all these oats and stuff, so I thought why not make some wonderful oaty date bars! They ended up ok, but kind of crumbly, I say make sure the bottom crust is very pushed down. These are a great breakfast snack, and even better packing in a bag to take to a music festival. I wished I had them when I was watching steve martin play the banjo today!! Enjoy these with ice cream, but the seemed more like a fruity crisp than a bar…that is why I gave them a low score. I might even cook the fruit on the stove a little to make more of a sauce next time instead of pieces of fruit. I did just think the fruit was a perfect ripe so I wanted to taste it. My mistake. Anyways, the wind is making me sleepy, so maybe a bar and a glass of water for bed.