photo of food for the gods bars on a gold wire rack

About This Food For The Gods Recipe

Food for the Gods has been a childhood favorite of mine, so I wanted to develop a reliable, easy-to-follow recipe after finding that many versions online lacked the details I needed. As a Filipino American baker who also shares Filipino holiday favorites like these ube crinkle cookies, I love creating recipes that celebrate the desserts I grew up with!

After testing this recipe, I’ve landed on a few tricks that makes these traditional Filipino date bars approachable for home bakers:

  • My Food for the Gods recipe is small(er) batch. Most recipes make the bars in a 9 x 13-inch pan. But I wanted a smaller batch for smaller households since ingredients like dates and walnut are pricey and my waistband is getting tight. So my recipe uses an 8-inch square pan, making a smaller portion.

  • The recipe is also (almost) one bowl—all you need is a spatula! No need to to pull out your stand mixer and cream butter and sugar. Melt the butter instead, and mix everything by hand. Not only is it low effort, but doing so makes the blondie bars extra chewy and fudgy!

Looking for other Filipino dessert bars? Check out these Chewy and Fudgy Purple Ube Brownies, one of the most popular recipes on Hummingbird High!

photo of food for the gods bars stacked on a small white plate

Let’s Talk Ingredients

You don’t need specialty ingredients to make Food for the Gods—but I do have some recommendations below:

  • Dried Dates. Dried dates are a key ingredient in Food for the Gods, giving the blondies their signature chewiness and richness. When developing the recipe, I tried all kinds of varieties—like Medjool, Deglet Noor—to see if I could taste the difference. Welp, I could not. So my recommendation is to go with a variety that you know you like and/or is most affordable to you.

    I do, however, recommend buying a variety that’s already pre-pitted or even chopped up (like these ones from Sunsweet). Dried dates are very sticky, so it can be time-consuming to pit and chop them up for the recipe. Some bakers even recommend freezing the dates overnight to make them easier to chop. But realistically, I’m even too lazy for that—just buy pre-chopped ones!

  • Walnuts. Similarly, it can be very time consuming to chop up walnuts for this recipe. I recommend buying a variety that’s already pre-chopped for baking. I like Trader Joe’s California Walnut Baking Pieces.
close up photo of food for the gods bars on a gold wire rack

Reference Photos for How To Make The Recipe

Photo showing chopped dates texture for food for the gods recipe
Dates are a key ingredient in Food for the Gods; I like to chop them into small, ¼- to ½-inch pieces for the bars. It’s just the right size for adding chewiness without being obviously fruity or sticky.
Photo showing dates covered in dry ingredients for food for the gods recipe
The recipe instructs you to mix the chopped dates with the dry ingredients for the blondie batter. Doing so coats the sticky fruit and prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the bars.
photo showing the texture of the food for the gods blondie batter
Here’s what the batter looks like after I’ve mixed everything together. I recommend pouring it into the baking pan right away—the longer it sits, the harder it will be to spread it.

How To Customize This Food For The Gods Recipe

It’s tough making traditional, heritage recipes. You’re living up to somebody’s grandma’s recipe, with its own customizations and preferences. I made these Food for the Gods recipe to be more like American blondie bars (similar to these recipes), but here are some ways to make them more suitable to Filipino tastes:

  • If you want extra chewy, almost sticky bars: Reduce the flour in the recipe to ¾ cup (3.35 ounces or 95 grams) and consider chopping the dates into larger, ½- to 1-inch pieces. Note that the edges of the bars will look a little wrinkly and bubbly—this is normal, I promise!

  • If you want soft, more cake-like bars: Bake the bars at 325°F; doing so will result in softer, more tender blondies.

  • If you want even more dates and walnuts: You can increase both the dates and walnuts to 1 cup. That’s 5.30 ounces (150 grams) of dates and 4 ounces (113 grams) of walnuts.
photo of food for the gods bars on a gold wire rack
Print

Get the Recipe: Food For The Gods (Filipino Date and Walnut Blondie Bars)

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Total: 50 minutes
Servings: 16 bars
Author: Michelle Lopez
These Filipino Food for the Gods are chewy date and walnut blondie bars made with a simple one-bowl method. This easy, well-tested recipe is perfect for Christmas baking, holiday gifting, or enjoying a nostalgic Filipino favorite at home.
No ratings yet
Leave a Review

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (2.65 ounces or 75 grams) dried dates, pitted and chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces
  • 1 cup (4.5 ounces or 128 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • ½ cup tightly packed (3.75 ounces or 106 grams) light OR dark brown sugar
  • ½ cup (3.5 ounces or 99 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
  • ½ cup (2 ounces or 57 grams) walnuts, chopped into ¼- and ½-inch pieces

Equipment

  • (8-inch) square pan

Instructions
 

  • Prep the oven and baking pan. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
    Lightly spray an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on each of the pan's sides. Spray the parchment paper, too.
  • Mix the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, mix together the dates, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until the dates are completely coated in the dry ingredients.
  • Mix the butter, sugars, egg, and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together the butter and sugars until moistened, about 1 minute. Add the egg and egg yolk; mix until combined.
  • Add the dry ingredients and walnuts. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
    Add the walnuts all at once and mix until evenly distributed throughout, about 1 minute.
  • Assemble the blondies. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly across the pan and smooth the top. 
  • Bake the blondies. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the blondies comes out with a few crumbs attached. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
  • Serve and store. Run a butter knife or the offset spatula along the edges of the pan and use the overhanging parchment as handles to lift the blondies out of the pan and onto a cutting board.
    Slice into 2-inch squares and serve. The blondies can be stored in an airtight container or zip-top bag at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review in the form below. I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!