Fluffy Snowflakes and No-Sugar Added Baking

Yesterday soft fluffy snowflakes were falling; it reminded me of the snow we often had around the holidays back home. I decided to bake something and make a big pot of tea, but I needed a few ingredients, so I headed out into the cottony snow. All bundled-up, the walk was still pleasant, as the snow had not yet turned icy on the ground.

Wanting to experiment with healthier baking, I made a recipe from
Allrecipes.com called "Sugarless Bars."

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 1/2 cup pitted prunes
• 1/2 cup chopped raisins
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup margarine (I used butter)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 1/4 whole wheat, 3/4 all-purpose flour)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Cut dates and prunes into small pieces. Boil dates, prunes, raisins, and water for 5 minutes. Add margarine. Mix and set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
3. Mix the eggs, vanilla and nuts. Add to the fruit mixture. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the fruit mixture. (If you want a spicy bar add 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg to the flour.)
4. Spread in 7 x 11 inch pan (I used an 8 X 8 pan) and bake for 25-30 minutes.

The dried fruits provided enough sweetness, and the walnuts gave it a nice texture. I would definitely make this again, adding some additional dried fruits, such as cranberries.