Date Slices

This is the first recipe I've tried from my Mum's recipe notebook. It appears it was given to her by Maureen Kelly, who I think was a friend when we lived in Uganda, but I might be mistaken. 

For some reason Mum only made this at Christmas time. Maybe it was the dates and the pinch of ginger. It certainly couldn't have been that it was any trouble to make and it is delicious. 

I made this just before this Christmas and it brought back memories of my teenage years - the Boxing Day spread of cold turkey and tinned ham, sticks of celery in the glass vase with handles that looked like a strange sort of flower arranging trophy, and my Nanna's piccalilli. Christmas cake with the teeth-breaking spiky icing and decorated with a plastic Santa on a sled, the bristly Christmas tree and a foil 'Merry Christmas'. And date slices served with lots of single cream (out of a jug and not the tinned variety either).
And after all these years it's still as good. That sweet, fudgy date mixture between crumbly, oatiness. Great with lots of single cream to moisten the crumble, though I expect a big dollop of clotted cream would work equally well. Enjoy!

250g chopped dates

180g brown sugar

pinch of ginger

250ml water

210g self raising flour

150g rolled oats

115g butter or margarine

pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan)

Place the dates, sugar, ginger & water in a small pan and simmer until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Sieve the flour & salt and rub in the fat, then add the oats. Put half the crumbs into a greased tin (I use one roughly 10x7") and press down flat. Spread over the date mixture, then top with the remaining crumbs. Bake in the oven  for half an hour.

Cut into squares and leave in the tin until cold.
Enjoy!