This recipe dates back (no pun intended) to 1917 when it was published in Good Housekeeping. There's no explanation as to why these are called Chinese Chews, but my belief is that these date nut bars resemble Nian Gau, a chewy Chinese dessert made with sweet rice flour. Whatever the name, this recipe has stood the test of time and is a good one to start with if you are new to making date bars or just looking for an interesting sweet bar cookie.
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The Easiest Date Nut Bars
Some date bar recipes involve making a filling and a crust separately, but these are much easier. You mix the dry ingredients well and add your chopped dates and nuts. You then pour in beaten eggs and vanilla, mix, spread across a pan and bake. This recipe does not call for extra butter or oil, so for a little flavor bump you can grease your parchment paper generously salted butter and the bars will pick up a some butter flavor there.
Original Good Housekeeping Date Nut Bars
Speaking of butter, some people do add butter to their Chinese Chews, but I wanted to stay closer to the original Good Housekeeping version (page 78) which doesn't doesn't call for butter or oil. The bars get enough of healthy fat from the nuts, so this is not a recipe where you'd want to leave them out because they are a substantial component. That, plus they cut the sweetness.
Best Dates for Date Bars
Back in 1917 the most common dates for baking were firm, sweet Deglet Noor, which is the type popular brands like Sunsweet and Dole use. For these bars, my dates of choice are Medjool. Medjool dates, which are not dried but are actually whole fruit, are large, sweet and have a caramel flavor. Medjool dates are usually found in the produce section and stay fresh for a long time in the refrigerator. Another option would be Barhi, known as “the honey of dates” because of their sweet flavor. I’ve never tried Barhi, but from the looks of them they might be a little too fancy for date bars! Or maybe not. It would be fun to make these with a mix of all three.
Chinese Chews Pan Size
Ah, pan size. The first time I made these I wasn't sure what the best pan size would be and made the mistake of using an 8-inch square. The Chinese Chews were thick like brownies and squishy in the middle -- not chewy, not good. Dates aren't cheap, so I took the thick bars, smashed them down and dried them out for 20 minutes at 250F. Believe it or not this worked and they were delicious, but I don't recommend it. Just use the right size pan -- a quarter sheet pan like a USA Pan.
Brown Sugar Chinese Chews
If you are a Southerner with an ingrained belief that brown sugar makes everything better, no worries. There's also a brown sugar version of this recipe. For the brown sugar version, decrease the baking powder to ½ teaspoon, increase the salt to ½ teaspoon and use brown sugar in place of granulated. I do think the granulated sugar version has plenty of flavor and you can really taste the dates, but a little extra molasses flavor is not a bad thing.
Recipe
Date and Nut Bars or Chinese Chews
Ingredients
- Coconut oil or salted butter for greasing the pan
- ¾ cup sifted all-purpose flour or unsifted pastry or cake flour (90 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar (200 grams)
- 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts or a mix), feel free to use more (90 grams)
- 1 cup chopped dates, I used Medjool but any kind is fine (You can use more or less as desired)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a quarter sheet pan (9x12 or 9x13) with parchment paper and generously grease the parchment paper with coconut oil or butter.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. When evenly blended, add the dates and nuts and stir to mix.
- With an electric mixer, beat the eggs until pale. Add vanilla to eggs and pour egg mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir with a heavy duty scraper to blend.
- Spread the mixture in the pan (it will be a very thin layer) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until very brown. Let cool completely.
- Lift from pan and cut into rectangles or squares. Sift powdered sugar over for garnish if desired.
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