Date Oatmeal Breakfast Squares

These are really delicious breakfast squares made with date syrup. They are moist but not overly sweet. They are not low in sugar since the dates have a fair amount of sugar but the trade off is the amount of fiber from the dates, oats, oat bran and flax meal. I got 12 squares and each square is a breakfast for me.

1 cup melted butter

¾ cup pitted dates (about 9 large Medjool dates)

1/2 cup brown Coconut sugar

½ cup boiling water

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

½ cup oat bran

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour

½ cup flax meal

½ cup unsweetened no fat Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons Arrowroot flour

1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored

Juice from 1 lemon

Instructions

1.      Line 8X8 inch baking tin with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides.

2.      Melt butter. Set aside to cool

3.      Pour boiling water over the dates, sugar and molasses and allow to sit for 30 minutes. Blend to make a syrup

4.      In a large bowl, mix the flours, oats, oat bran, baking soda, salt, flax meal, and cinnamon.

5.      Peel and core the granny smith apple and cut into large chunks. Put in a food processor with the lemon juice. Add the date mixture, melted butter and process to a paste.

6.      Whisk the eggs, vanilla and yogurt together. Add the date syrup paste.

7.      Mix wet and dry ingredients together then spread mixture in a parchment lined 8x8 inch baking dish. Bake in a 350° oven for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Cut into squares when cool.