Mandarin and Date Slice

Like many other Aussie backyards we have a massive mandarin tree down there which produces far more fruit than we can eat during winter. We have given a lot away and could have listed the mandarins on Ripe Near Me for people to come and pick them but the tree is quite high and it would be too risky to have them climbing ladders and perhaps falling and hurting themselves so I asked the CEO to pick as many as he could for juicing.

I should have bitten my tongue as, before I knew it, I was presented with enough mandarins to fill a huge EcoStore bag and these bags are about twice as large as the usual shopping bags. 

I guess that isn't surprising when you have a tree the size of ....

 

...this one which is as old as Methuselah. 

So I started juicing and you wouldn't believe how long it takes to produce two jugs of mandarin juice...a couple of hours!!! It certainly isn't as quick as juicing oranges. Anyway, I poured some of the juice into ice cubes to keep for using down the track and included the rest of the juice in two batches of Mandarin and Date Slice. 

This recipe is based on Linda Woodrow's Orange and Date Bars which feature in her ebook, The Muesli Bar Challenge which can be purchased through Smashwords,  iTunes and Amazon for A$3.99. It is a great eBook as there are lots of recipes in it that include macadamia nuts in the ingredients which suits me fine as we have three macadamia trees...two for the cockatoos and one for us that is :-)

In one of the batches I used Coconut flour instead of wholemeal flour but it wasn't all that nice so will just use the plain flour in future although I do want to make it using gluten-free flour to see if it works out as then I can take it to our Simple Living Toowoomba morning tea as a couple of our regulars adhere to a gluten-free diet. I haven't had much success with cooking using gluten-free flour though I must admit. 

So without further ado here is the recipe:

Mandarin and Date Slice

Filling:

2 cups dates

1 cup fresh mandarin juice and pulp (or oranges)

Put this in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then turn off to soak while the crust is being made. 

Crust:

1 1/2 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 t baking powder
1 t grated mandarin or orange rind
100ml (almost 1/2 cup) of honey
100ml mild flavoured oil

Put into food processor and mix thoroughly.

Then press half of the crust into a lined shallow pan. Make sure you press it down firmly.
Process the dates and juice in the food processor to make it spreadable and then spread it over the crust.

Cover the filling with the rest of the crust and press it down as firmly as you can while leaving the filling intact.

Bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes or until brown.

Leave it to cook before cutting otherwise it will be too crumbly. Cut into fingers or squares.

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Tomorrow I am off to Brisvegas for a class reunion and the forecast is for beautiful, warm Spring weather. Have a great weekend everyone!