Dates are a very dividing sort of food. People seem to either love them or hate them. Pros: dates are sweet and delicious. Cons: they have a funny texture and too strong of a flavor. Well, I was somewhere in between the pro-date and anti-date groups and, this week, I got the chance to test out a date recipe. I may be a date convert! In this bread, the date flavor is fairly mild (it can serve as a good introduction to new date tasters out there), and the actually pieces of the dates seem to melt into the bread, thereby eliminating that raisin-like quality.
I actually made this bread twice (two nights in a row!) because once you buy a pound of dates at Trader Joe's.....you have a lot of dates in your fridge. I had to do something with them! All pictures are of the first version (which I adjusted off of allrecipes.com), but I tweaked the recipe more for the second version and I think it came out better. My vote goes to the additional adjustments.
*And, as a side note: I listen to music when I bake; I think this recipe came out well because I played the new Adele cd on repeat the whole time and it's great!*
Date Nut Bread
Makes 1 9x5 loaf, recipe from here
3/4 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup and 2 tablespoons boiling water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
*1 tablespoon instant coffee powder (optional)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
*1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
*sesame seeds for topping (I copied this idea from the Green Street Restaurant's delightful Zucchini bread)
* = my additions the second time I made this recipe
1) Combine baking soda and coffee powder with boiling water. Soak dates in the solution for 30 minutes.
2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream both sugars and butter together. Add nuts, applesauce, egg, salt, both flours, vanilla extract, and the dates (including the solution they are in).
3) Pour into greased 9x5 loaf pan.
4) Bake 45-60 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Let cool on a cooling rack before removing from pan.
For someone who was pretty unsure about dates, this bread hit the spot! It was moist (especially after I added the applesauce the second time) and satisfying. The date flavor permeated each bite because of the date-soaking process and the added liquid, but it became milder in the baking. Because this bread is not too sweet, it would make a great addition to the breakfast table (or the snack table!).
This recipe was really easy (so easy, I made it twice!), the slowest part for me was pitting and chopping the dates at the beginning. Make sure to give yourself enough time to let the dates soak and then let the bread bake for close to an hour, this isn't a throw together and go sort of recipe. If you've got the time though, it's definitely a winner.
Happy date night! (HA HA)
-Jessica
One trick for cutting sticky things like dates is to oil your knife before you start (or spray it with Pam, if you prefer). Just FYI. Wish I'd been able to come over and have some! :)
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