A few weeks ago we were having our Bishop over for dinner, so naturally my thoughts turned to dessert. My default on these occasions is usually chocolate chip cookies, but a recent switch to dairy-free living meant that I had to tweak the recipe a bit. Chocolate chips were out; almonds and dates were in. Butter was out; applesauce was in. Then when I had the dough all together, it occurred to me that the anticipated butter -> applesauce texture change might work better as a square than a cookie. So into the pan it all went, and the results were highly satisfactory: sweet but not too sweet, moist, and chewy. Plus the nuts and dates tip the balance from “I’m eating way too much dessert” to “Hey, at least it’s kind of healthy, right? Fibre! Protein! Pass the pan.”

I would have taken a picture if I hadn’t eaten all the leftovers. With gusto.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped dates

Mix together applesauce, sugars, egg, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Add flour, baking soda, salt, almonds, and dates, and mix well.

Pour into greased 8×8 pan.

Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.