Wholemeal date and pecan slice

Having eaten more than my fair share of Almond and Semolina Slice last night, I decided something a little healthier was in order. Don't get me wrong, there's still sugar and I'd still call it a treat, just with a little less guilt (although life's too short for food guilt anyway!). Having seen the sugary sprinkle on the picture, you may well ask what makes this recipe anything close to healthy? In essence, it's wholemeal flour and oats instead of plain flour, and the sugar quantity's been greatly reduced by the use of a dried date filling in the place of jam.

I decided on this recipe having watched the Comic Relief Bake Off and being reminded once again of Mary Berry's brilliance. This recipe is adapted from her Apricot and Walnut Sandwich Bars in her Baking Bible - I used dates instead of apricots (and I removed the added sugar from the filling because I find dates plenty sweet enough on their own) and pecans instead of walnuts to compliment the toffee-like flavour of the dates. I've also added a little more water to the filling as I find that dates soak up more liquid than apricots.

Method and ingredients (makes about 10 bars):

50g porridge oats

50g light soft muscovado sugar

40g chopped pecans

175g margarine, melted

175g chopped dried dates

100ml water

1 - 2tsp cinnamon sugar (you can mix this yourself, no need to buy special sugar - just mix 1part cinnamon to 2 parts sugar)

1. Place dates and water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then leave to simmer until the dates have absorbed all the liquid (they should look almost jammy). Set aside.
2. Stir together all the other ingredients except the cinnamon sugar.
3. Grease and line a 18cm by 18cm square cake tin.
4. Spread half of the oat mixture into the tin, cover with the date mixture and then top with the remaining oat mix.
5. Sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar and cook a 150 degrees C oven for 45 minutes (until firm and golden brown).
6. Cut into bars whilst warm.

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