Date Nut Bread

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Part of my goal with trying to make new recipes is to try to use new ingredients. I want to get outside of my comfort zone in the kitchen. I can make chicken, ground beef, and cookies without recipes like the back of my hand. It’s different ingredients like dates, fish, poppyseeds, herbs, etc that I want to get better at using. Our ancestors had to utilize these ingredients because they used what they had on hand. Ultimately, I’m trying to figure out what we should grow and harvest to use in the future. Each year we add some more to the garden and this year we’re adding trees and bushes too. It doesn’t help to grow things if we don’t know how to use them though! This date nut bread is perfect because it uses two things I very rarely use but hope to grow- dates & nuts! 

The Original Recipe

As you can see this recipe is not from a book, it’s a card! When my gram passed away we were blessed enough to get her recipes handed down to us. There are some that I recognize easily but others that I don’t recognize at all, including this one! It looks like it came from Myrtle and, to be honest, I don’t know who Myrtle is. So if you recognize this recipe and your name is Myrtle I’d love to hear from you and hear how it came to be part of my grandma’s recipes. 

I love digging through her little recipe boxes to find treasures to make. Between the books and the boxes of cards that I have I could make a new recipe each week for years to come!

Ingredients For Date Nut Bread

• 1 c chopped dates
• 1 ½ cup boiling water
• ¾ c sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 ¼ c flour (1 ¾ c for moister bread)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 1 c chopped nuts  (I love my Ninja chopper for this!)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp melted shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

• Pour hot water over dates and let stand.
• Beat egg.
• Add sugar.
• Sift flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. 
• Stir nuts into mix.
• Add dates / flour alternatively to egg mix.
• Stir in shortening and vanilla.
• Pour into greased pans. Makes 2 loaves.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Tips & Tricks

Full transparency here- I was a little lost on these directions. Not sure if gram was trying to hurry when she wrote them down or if she just knew in her head what she was supposed to be doing. I’ll explain my method to try to help.

Bri’s Directions

• Pour hot water over dates and let stand.
• Using a mixer, beat egg and sugar together.
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Stir in the nuts.
• Alternate pouring the dates and flour/nut mixture into the egg mix.
• Stir in shortening and vanilla.
• Pour into greased pans. Makes 2 loaves.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes. 

Hopefully that makes a little more sense! It’s the version that I followed and these loaves turned out very well. I also went with a little less flour for bread that was more moist (not moister like gram said). 

I had pecans on hand so that is what I ended up using but feel free to play around with it! Perhaps you are growing some walnut trees (one of my goals) and want to use those. Go for it! I also played with the vanilla extract and used almond too. It’s pretty versatile so you can adapt it for whatever you have on hand. I wouldn’t put peanuts and peppermint extract together but you do you! 

In Summary: Date Nut Bread

This bread is a perfect low sugar treat. It’s not too sweet but also not bland at all. We loved it equally for breakfast and for dessert. I also love that this recipe makes two loaves so that I can keep one for us and give one away. I’m always looking for easier ways to do that and it almost gives me an excuse to bring something to someone else. It seems like I’m always giving away eggs but it’s more fun to give away other treats that surprise people a little bit more. 

I also love to freeze some bread, especially in the summer when we have way too much zucchini. I’ll put up a few loaves of zucchini bread to have as something quick in the winter time. This would be a good option here too just to have something quick to pull out if there are days where we are in a hurry or, more likely, when I don’t feel like cooking. This has actually happened often lately. The rainy gray days are making me feel like serving cereal for dinner every day! I’m thankful that I’ve got some things tucked away just for these occasions to make them a little easier on myself. We only have a couple restaurants in town so takeout is very limited. What is your go-to when you don’t feel like cooking? Do you freeze/preserve food or do you prefer takeout? 

Date Nut Bread

A *not to sweet* treat.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 Tbsp melted shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

 

• Pour hot water over dates and let stand.
• Using a mixer, beat egg and sugar together.
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Stir in the nuts.
• Alternate pouring the dates and flour/nut mixture into the egg mix.
• Stir in shortening and vanilla.
• Pour into greased pans. Makes 2 loaves.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Keyword Bread, Date, Nut