Grandma Orr's Date Squares

Crust:

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup shortening

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup sour milk

Mix sugar, flour, rolled oats and salt together. Cut in shortening with pastry blender. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to flour mixture. Spread half of mixture into a 9x13 pan. Save the rest of the dough for the top.

Filling:

3/4-1 cup dates, cut up

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

Bring the filling ingredients to a boil and stir together over medium heat until it resembles jam. Pour date mixture on top of crust. As best as you can, roll out the remaining crust dough and place on top of date mixture. You may need to do some "piecing" as it is difficult to get a big enough piece to cover the entire 9x13 at once. Bake at 350 degrees until crust is golden brown. Cut in squares.