Calypso Bars

The ladies of The General Foods Kitchens came up with this book in 1959. On page 113 a recipe for Calypso Bars sits categorized as a 'Company For Dinner' item.
Back in the day this was to be served with Swedish Meat Balls, Potato Salad Supreme, and Tomato Aspic-Squares on Lettuce. This was a strategic menu to allow for successful entertaining. I made the Calypso Bars just for giggles and I was fairly entertained. We all liked eating them.

Calypso Bars

2 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cups hot water
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups chopped dates
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts

Melt chocolate in hot water over low heat. Add granulated sugar and stir until dissolved. Add dates and cook over low heat until mixture thickens- about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the butter. Then blend in vanilla. Cool.
Cream remaining 3/4 cup butter and the brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Sift flour, salt, and soda, together. Add to creamed mixture, blending well. Add oats and nuts and mix until crumbly. Press half the nuts mixture onto bottom of a greased 13x9x2 inch pan. Spread with date-chocolate mixture *(see my added note below)* and top with remaining nut mixture. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. Or cool and cut into squares. Makes 30.

***The next time I make this recipe, I will avoid spreading the date-chocolate mixture within 1/4" of the edge. This should fix my problem of a sticky edge clean-up.

I might try an experiment and skip the chocolate and add apricots instead of dates. The recipe tastes just fine the way it is written.