No, I'm not getting married... and no, this isn't exclusively served at weddings. This dessert is basically a delicious date paste sandwiched between an oat mixture, it is both very sweet and very tasty! I would recommend you have with either a glass of milk, tea or coffee!
I’ve read a bit about these bars and there seems to be a few theories about the origin of the name, here’s a little summary courtesy of another blog :
“My initial hunch was that it was named matrimonial cake as it was originally served at weddings. In the east coast where I am from, besides having a regular wedding cake, it is an old tradition to serve fruitcake at weddings too and it is referred to as "groom's cake", so I thought matrimonial cake would be similar. My research did not produce a definitive answer. It appears to be a western Canadian thing to refer to date squares as matrimonial cake. Some feel it is called matrimonial cake because of the two separate layers brought together by dates which symbolizes two people courting and solidifying the relationship in marriage. Others feel that the smooth and rough textures of the date squares represent the easy and difficult times of a marriage. Some believe that it was individually wrapped, handed out at weddings, and then single gals would place it under their pillow and dream about their future husband.”
When I was researching Canadian food I must confess I found it a little odd (pizzaghetti?), quite high in calories – specially fat... I was sat here with my boyfriend and I was wondering aloud and he suggested that this might be because of how cold it gets in Canada – which seems to make sense to me! After all seals and polar bears use their fatty layers to protect themselves from the cold. And no, I’m not saying Canadians have a fatty layer... I’m just wondering if being in such a cold place requires a more calorie dense diet just to stay warm! I will have to do more research on this and come back to you at some point.. maybe when I have to tackle another super cold country. Either way, I went for these bars because they really do look and taste delicious! I made half of the recipe in this blog and baked it in a small 15x15cm tray, I got around 6 small bars out of it. I would definitely recommend cutting them small are they are so sweet!
Makes 6 small bars
Ingredients
Date Filling
130 g pitted dates - chopped into pieces
55 ml boiling water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Oat Shortbread
55 g unsalted butter softened
45 g soft light brown sugar
45 g porridge oats
60 g plain flour all-purpose
1 tsp baking soda
1 good pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Method
In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the dates and water. Cook until the dates are soft and become a paste. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/360°F/Gas 4 and line a baking tin (15x15cm) with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together with a spoon and then add the rest of the dry ingredients.
Press half the mixture into the lined baking tin - make sure the bottom layer is even (it won't be very thick). Spread the date paste over the bottom later using a spatula and ensure the bottom layer is evenly coated.
Crumble the rest of the flour and oat mixture and spread evenly on top without pressing down too much.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until the oats are lightly toasted.
Cool in the tin, then place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Lift it out of the tin using the sides of the parchment paper, cut into squares and serve.
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