PUMPKIN SEED AND DATE BREAD BARS

Good Housekeeping’s 125th anniversary came during my years there as a food editor. We embarked on a project reviving recipes from the magazine’s long history, which taught me so much about America’s culinary history. Date bread, which I had never tasted, appeared early in the archives and remained in the magazine’s pages for over a century. With each passing decade, the basic formula changed from having no fat to being loaded with butter, from using whole-meal flour to using all-purpose. I decided to continue the evolution of ingredients by returning to the original but adding decidedly New World elements. Pumpkin seeds and coconut contain enough fat to keep the bread rich while adding crunch to the chewy date base.

makes 2 dozen

dairy-free, no nuts

• 1 cup (162 g) pitted Medjool dates, chopped
• 1 cup (144 g) white whole wheat flour
• ½ cup (68 g) fine stone-ground buckwheat flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup (34 g) raw pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), toasted, plus more for sprinkling
• ¼ cup (24 g) unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted, plus more for sprinkling (optional)
• ¾ cup (161 g) packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

1. Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the dates, remove from the heat, and let cool to room temperature.

2. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom and sides with foil or parchment paper and spray again.

3. Whisk both flours, the baking powder, coriander, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the pepitas and coconut. Whisk the brown sugar and eggs in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in the dates and their soaking liquid. Pour the date mixture into the dry ingredients and fold just until evenly incorporated. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Sprinkle the top with pepitas and with coconut flakes, if you’d like.

4. Bake the bread bars until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

5. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Lift out of the pan, using the foil or paper. Cut into sixths crosswise and quarters lengthwise to form 24 bars.

MAKE AHEAD

The bars will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.