Honey Date Square Recipe, straight from the 1940's and Andrea's great-grandmother's recipes collection. Are you swooning with me? There is nothing I love more than sharing recipes with a history, except when someone is sharing a new one with me. Confession: I am a recipe addict.
Show me a reliable, tastes amazing, and uses only whole food ingredient recipe and I'm hooked! That's why we're about to become best friends, right? Too soon, okay, how about good friends with room for growth. ~Melissa
I love historical recipes. Not only are they a window into the daily lives of people in other times and places, but they are often a treasure-trove of whole-foods meals!
When I inherited my great-grandmother's recipe collection, I was particularly interested in a collection of baking recipes from the early 1940's. Due to war-time sugar-rationing, all of the recipes were made with natural sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup.
Although sugar is more plentiful than ever these days, many of us have switched to using less processed sweeteners in our baking because we know it is better for us, and our families. This makes these recipes from the 40's just as relevant for today as they were more than 70 years ago.
These Honey Date Squares are a lovely sweet treat. If you are a low-sugar household I think you could cut the honey in the recipe and still have something delicious. My husband, who loves his sweets, prefers them with the full amount. I have made these with walnuts, pecans, almonds, and a mix of nuts, and all have been good, so go ahead and use your favorites. I have also made these with whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, and a gluten-free flour blend. Check out Successful Gluten-Free Baking That Tastes Good for tips on baking gluten free.
1940s Honey Date Squares Recipe
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup nuts, chopped
- 1 cup dates, chopped (raisins would also be good!)
- ⅔ cup honey
- ¾ cup flour (whole wheat, spelt, or gluten-free blend)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Flavor variations: although I haven't tried them this way, you could swap out the dates for any dried fruit or even chocolate chips. You could also add in a tsp of flavoring such as vanilla (make your own vanilla extract), or orange zest. Chocolate chips and cherries would be a yummy combo, as would cranberry and orange.
Method
Beat together eggs, nuts, dates, and honey. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
Spread in a greased 9×9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.
When cool, cut into squares.
Historical Recipes: Honey Date Squares
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup nuts chopped
- 1 cup dates chopped (raisins would also be good!)
- ⅔ cup honey
- ¾ cup flour whole wheat, spelt, or gluten-free blend
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Beat together eggs, nuts, dates, and honey. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Spread in a greased 9×9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes.
- When cool, cut into squares.
Have you had any experience cooking from historical recipes? What are your favorites?
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I, too, love old recipes. This looks really good with pantry ready foods. Tanks for sharing
OH how great is that! I was recently offered several old recipe books and now I’m thinking that I might want to get them to share. Thanks so much for the reminder.
Ricki,
Grab those books! You never know what treasure may await beneath the cover.
Debbie,
I loved that I had all the ingredients on hand to make up this one, too. I think I may have to add some chocolate chips… 🙂
my favourite historic recipe book is a British compilation of wartime recipes called, “We’ll eat again”. It’s packed with frugal family meals made from rations, gardens or hedgerow foraging – recipes that meant that ration-book Brits (and rationing continued into the 50s) were much healthier than we are now.
If you want good old fashioned ‘from scratch’ recipes, try to find the Delineator Cookbook. It was first published in 1928 or 1929. The copy I own is from the 1930s. This cookbook was published by a woman’s magazine called The Delineator. It has a bread pudding recipe that is to die for! Since this cookbook was first published at the beginning of the Great Depression, you better believe that the recipes it contains are the epitome of frugal. I got my copy from a small town library book sale. They were thinning out the books that hadn’t been checked out in decades. I’ve had mine since the late 1980s.
Thank’s for the recommendation. I love those old cookbooks and they can be hard to find, but I adore them. I’ll be on the lookout for this one!
Made these tonight with walnuts and spelt flour…….they were a hit!
I think I will cut the honey down a bit, next time.
Jenn,
Spelt flour is my fave and thanks for letting us know what you thought about them.