Pressed Dates

Back in March I discovered a local middle-eastern store had pressed dates.  It took me a while to describe what I was looking for to the guy behind the counter:  dates, all squished together in a brick, sometimes called baking dates or pressed dates.  We wandered through the store stopping at various containers of dates before we happened upon what I was looking for.  I, of course, threw my hands in the air and did my touchdown victory happy-dance. 

The guy was amused and tried very hard not to laugh.

I made cookies with those dates a week later.  They were not quite what I had expected.  They weren't whole pitted dates squashed together.  It turned out to be date meal, all ground up.  I don't think I'd like to make date bread out of this, but it was perfect for my date filled cookies.

Just before we moved, I stopped off at the store to buy a couple of more bars.  I went right to the aisle they had been in, but couldn't find the pressed dates.  I searched around a bit before going to the cashier and asked him where I could find the baking dates.  He took me to the containers of loose dates, and I found myself describing what baking dates looked like.  We stopped at several shelves before we ended up in front of the baking dates.  Just before I went into my victory happy-dance, the guy looks at me and says "hey, I remember you."

I bought two bricks.  Once again, the guy was very amused as he rang up my purchase and I whisked out the door.  Happiness!