KEEP YOUR SECRETS THEN, KATH, but if anyone else has feedback, I would really appreciate it! This was my favourite from a box of holiday baked goods, but I'm not even sure what to call it. My best guess is that it's some kind of date bar cut into bite-sized pieces and coated in icing sugar. Was about 1 in / 2.5 cm in height. The bit pictured is a corner piece. The rest she gave me looked to be center pieces (which I ate before thinking to photograph 🫠🙃) that were entirely the texture as the bottom half in the photo. Had a consistency and flavour similar to sticky date pudding. Nearly raw, in a good way. When I search for "date slice" and "date bar", nothing looks quite right. I think it may have been a slightly underbaked cookie bar and the texture just a happy accident but no real clue!!! Recipes, ideas, ingredient IDs, and consolations all welcome.
by nnnyeahheygorgeous
27 Comments
This kind of reminds me of a stollen cake.
Maybe I’ve watched too much Veronica Mars, but I vote break into her house and rifle through her kitchen drawers for her recipe cards. Failing that, teddybear cam in the ceiling light.
We’re coming for that recipe Katherine
Is Kath Southern? I found this recipe for “Chinese chews” that looks promising! https://www.lanascooking.com/chinese-chews/
Could be something like Food for the Gods? Traditionally not covered in powdered sugar like in your photos, but could be a similar base.
Is your neighbor Filipino by chance? This could be Food for the Gods, a dessert that usually has dates and walnuts.
Hope this is ok to ask but what ethnicity is she? Maybe that can help us try to figure out what she made. I tend to make my culture’s food for the holidays to share my people’s food heheh
I’m Filipino and seconding that your description reminds me of Food for the Gods, but customized version where she dusts it in powdered sugar
Gatekeeping recipes is ridiculous. It’s like that’s what makes someone feel wanted and important.
“Chinese Chews” are a classic American date and nut bar cookie, whose name origin is largely unknown. The traditional recipe calls for a simple batter with dates and walnuts or pecans, often rolled in powdered or granulated sugar after baking.
That looks delicious…
And now I want to know what it is too!
Did your neighbor have a name for it? Other than *Kath’s Secret Delights*?
Dried fruits, nuts, little cake, spices? fruitcake-y bites?
Normally I think keeping recipes can be petty but not even telling you what it IS is so hardline that it’s kind of hilarious. Classic Kath, that.
Tip: cut the dates into small pieces with wet scissors rather than trying to chop them.
These look exactly like the date nut bars my friend Florence would make every year for the holidays. She was from Rochester NY and an absolute character. She gladly shared the recipe but that was over twenty-five years ago and I don’t have a clue where it got to. I never did make them because they did seem like her thing you know? She’s been dead for many years now and I think I’ll search out the recipe and make them in order to feel close to her. Thanks for the memories, I can almost taste those bars!
Dates, sugar AND powder sugar?! This is next level sweet
These “Chinese chewing” are so reminiscent of our “mazurka,” only with dates. I’ll definitely make them.
I have no idea on the recipe but my targeted ad declared the answer is always Mac and cheese lol. I think I must disagree.
I’m not even lying. I just had to look it up in my old 1940s cook book and I swear there’s a recipe called “my neighbors date bar”. I wish I could post a pic here but I can send you in dms.
Just wanted to say great u enjoyed her bake and she has every right to not share the recipe
A not insignificant portion of this sub is Kaths.
Can we also vote for the funniest post (and comment section) of the year? I feel like this post is just the most wholesome and positive thing I’ve read in a while.
All the comments are interrogation noobs.
You show her the recipe and tell her her husband told you, and you watch her reaction. That would tell you if it’s the right one.
Of course you tell her you made it up, and then her second reaction will confirm the first one. If it’s the same dessert.
Read the recipe provided, best tip ever included in it;
[**Chopped Dates**](https://www.amazon.com/Dole-Dates-Chopped-8-oz/dp/B000SRGW16?crid=1T775ELCRXPNH&keywords=chopped+dates&qid=1668543746&sprefix=chopped+date%2Caps%2C333&sr=8-8&linkCode=ll1&tag=nevenothy0e-20&linkId=994d9b27e6283f6524eff4c4bb3b6ac3&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl) — If you can’t locate chopped dates, buy whole dates and chop them into small pieces
This is stolen cake.
I love this thread of comments and this post! I’m loling!
Please try making the shared recipe and report back!
[Here’s a recipe for date bars](https://twohealthykitchens.com/date-bar-recipe/#mv-creation-297-jtr), including the powdered sugar coating. The main difference between this recipe and the Chinese Chews recipe posted above is that the latter recipe does not include any fat as far as I could tell. This recipe, otoh does call for butter, as well as some water and vanilla. The ones your neighbor made seem to be taller, but that just could be the amount of batter that she poured into the pan or the size of the pan itself. The cube shape probably is why your neighbor’s version seemed to be chewier/moister and had that “almost raw” cake-like consistency. A flatter bar would be denser, like a traditional fruit bar.
I understand it can be hard not to take someone not revealing their recipe personally. It’s hard to explain, but frequently when an exceptional recipe is handed down, it comes with a request that the recipe not be shared, or to only be shared with certain people. It stems from a sense that the person handing down the recipe is aware that it is exceptional, and wants to ensure the recipe is properly “respected” by being prepared by someone that is experienced and can do the recipe justice, and who will also discerningly hand down the recipe. In the past, when someone didn’t want to reveal a recipe to me at first, I was successful in getting them to relent by cooking for them and demonstrating my dedication to the craft, and proving that I could be trusted with it. This is your best bet at getting them to change their mind. Cook for them, impress them, then ask again. If you’re good, they will probably relent.
🤓Foodie/food nerd here! Was curious about the etymology and came across this quote cited in an article, it ain’t pretty: “‘How did Chinese Chews become Chinese?” Was labelling the date bars as Chinese an indication “of the need of [W]hite people to have an Other from which to gain their own identity?’”
📕Source: pg 162 in de Zwart, M. L. (2003). Home economics education in
British Columbia 1913-1936: through postcolonial eyes (Doctoral dissertation,
University of British Columbia).
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/831/83
1/ items/1.0055046
It’s 3:30am in the morning, so I’m saving this for another day!
Bake her something that will make her want the recipe, and then don’t give it to her until she shares hers.