Dan Lepard's chocolate crumble date bar recipe

Hazelnut and milk chocolate fragments are buried in a layer of chocolate shortcrust, under a stratum of soft dates and a crumble crust. Holy Triassic, Batman! Finely grated zest of 1-2 oranges 100ml orange juice 375g stoned and chopped dates 250g plain flour ¾ tsp baking powder 2 tbsp cocoa 125g light soft brown sugar 125g unsalted butter, softened 75g roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts 100g milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces Put the orange zest and juice into a saucepan with the dates and 100ml water, bring to a boil, simmer, give it a good stir until the mixture thickens, then set aside to cool. Spoon the flour, baking powder, cocoa and sugar into a mixing bowl and work in the butter with your fingers until it just starts to form a rough crumble. Stir in the hazelnuts and chocolate. Press two-thirds of the mixture into the base of a buttered, 18cm square tin, then spread the orangey date mixture on top. Slightly dampen the remaining crumble mix with a few teaspoons of water, so you get bigger and moister crumble pieces, and spread this over the dates. Bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 for about 40 minutes. danlepard.com/guardian