Raspberry lemonade Squares

A fusion between the classic and oh so delicious Raspberry/Lemon bars and the date crumble bars… It’s pure heaven.. and it’s healthy too!

– INGREDIENTS –

For the Crust:

7 tablespoons of margarine

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of quick oats

1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/3 cup of finely chopped hazelnut

pinch of salt

For the Filling:

2 cup of unfrozen or fresh raspberries

Juice of 1 1/2 lemons

zest of 1/4 lemon

1/2 cup of finely chopped dates (optional)

1/3 of brown sugar

2/3 cup of all purpose flour

3 egg whites

1 egg

1- Preheat your oven at 350 and prepare a 8×8 glass baking pan (Pirex) with aluminum foil, make sure you leave extra foil on each side of the pan to help you remove the bars later (see picture below).  Grease the foil with margarine (don’t forget the sides).

2- Make the crust.  In big mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and margarine till you get an smooth paste.  In a side bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt before adding it to the sugar and margarine paste.  Add the rest of the ingredients for the crust and use your hands for the rest of the mixing.

3- Take approximately 2/3 of your crust mixture and press it tightly at the bottom of the pan to create the crust.  Bake for 20 minutes.

4- While the crust is cooking, prepare the filling.  Whisk together all the filling ingredients making sure all the raspberries are crushed.  The dates will never been crushed, they will “melt” once it’s cooked no worries.

5- Once the crust is done, pour the filling preparation and add the remaining 1/3 of the crust mixture on top.  Bake for 30 minutes.