I insist you make this walnut date bread. Your weekend needs this walnut date bread (or also known as date and nut bread depending on whichever way you want to spin it) a cozy blanket, a good book and a cup of coffee or tea. Make it happen.
This vintage beauty is my grandmother’s recipe. However she would wash-out cans from let’s say green beans or corn or something and she would fill them half way and baked this bread in the actual cans. Which is so retro and totally screams the 50’s. I love it. But we’re not baking bread in cans today, we’re going the ol’ loaf route.
A few weekends ago I took my girls out to the mall and then we swung by my mom’s for a visit featuring coffee and my mom had this beautiful little loaf set out on her counter. We poured our coffee and sipped while slices of this date bread were being toasted and then we slathered our pieces with softened butter.
Because everything is better toasted and with butter.
To Make This Walnut Date Bread You Will Need:
- pitted dates
- baking soda
- boiling water
- dark brown sugar
- unsalted butter
- egg
- pure vanilla extract
- unbleached all-purpose flour
- kosher salt
- cinnamon
- walnuts
First things first you’ll need dates. Pitted dates preferred.
Chop until you have 1 cup or so.
Throw the chopped dates into a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Pour over 3/4 cup of boiling water.
Stir and submerge the dates into the water and set off to the side.
Chop up 1/2 cup of walnuts, pecans would be fab here too.
In a large-ish bowl add 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of butter (I KNOW RIIIIGHT??)…
Crack in 1 large egg…
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract…
Now just mix until combined.
Throw in the 1-1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and cinnamon both.
Throw in the 1/2 cup chopped walnuts…
Lastly pour in the soaked dates and any water that is in the bowl goes in too.
Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
I’m using these smaller, cardboard stand-alone muffin containers which work perfectly for making smaller loaves. I threw away the packaging but the measurements are roughly 6 x 3 x 2.
Divide the batter among the mini loaf pans.
It’s about a heaping cup per loaf.
So cute.
Spread the batter out and slide into the awaiting 350° oven for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once the bread cools I peel back the cardboard box (<— there’s a sentence you don’t say everyday)
Slice (toast them if you want too!) and slather with copious amounts of butter. Or jam. Or maple syrup whaaaaat?!
It’s a sweet, nutty and subtly cinnamon-y and way good. I wrap one and freeze it for impromptu coffee dates or impromptu hunger pangs. You could double the recipe, making 4 loafs, wrap them in cute little packages and handout as gifts. Tis the season and all that.
Who’s excited!?
Enjoy! And if you give this Walnut Date Bread recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Walnut Date Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped pitted dates
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 boiling water
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Grease two small loaf pans or use paper cardboard stand-alone liners.
- Add chopped dates to a medium bowl along with baking soda and cover with boiling water. Let sit off to the side.
- In a large bowl combine the sugar, butter, egg and vanilla. Add in the flour, salt, cinnamon, walnuts and dates including any remaining water in the bowl.
- Mix on low until combined. Divide among pans and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
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This looks amazing! I love the sweetness of dates and with the crunch of walnuts, this looks perfect for afternoon tea!
I love dates so I know I’d love this bread!
Your Grandma’s recipe? Wow that type of recipe is the BEST. Thank you for sharing. I am going to sound ignorant here, but I didn’t know you could get and use cardboard baking containers. Goodness! Another door has opened for me. I had forgotten about the can deal. That pulled up a memory from high school home economics class and that was way later than the 50’s, but then the home econ teacher was definitely old old old.
I love it!
Those cardboard boxes are adorable! You’re right…my weekend NEEDS this bread. I love dates 🙂
My mom’s recipe is identical, but at times she used a very strong black coffee rather than the water to soak the dates. Also, we substituted with black walnuts if we had any. This is one of our traditional Christmas morning breakfast breads. We love it. YUM!
Gah, I love dates! This bread looks so comforting!
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I think I’ll make some for my kids teachers. Where did you buy the cardboard containers?
Hi Monica! That’s s great idea! I purchased the containers at Target
This being my first comment, I wanted to say how much I love your blog.
The photos illustrate beautifully and your writing is as entertaining as it is easy to follow. Have you considered publication? I would love to have hard copies of your collections for myself.
I am finally getting to make this bread today, but wanted to make sure on how many walnuts, the photo shows 1/2 cup chopped.
Thank you for sharing!
Terri
Hi Terri! Oops! I forgot to put the walnuts in the ingredient list! Thank you for pointing that out and yes, it’s 1/2 cup. Also, I’m actually in the process of writing my first cookbook and it should be out fall of next year! Thank you for your kind comment and I hope you enjoy this yummy bread
Thank you for a great recipe. It is such a nice change from the standard quick breads (banana, pumpkin etc.). I adore it’s old-fashionedness. My three year old son also loves it. I have it in the oven right now for gifting. The only time the recipe did not work out well for me was when I doubled it. Have you successfully doubled this recipe yourself? Doesn’t actually make sense to me why it didn’t work out… And I was curious, unlike most quick bread recipes which mix all the wet ingredients together and then the dry, why is it that you add the dates to the butter/sugar mixture together with the flour? With this bread, do we not need to be cautious of over mixing? Thanks for your time.
Thank you for the recipe. I was given some dates but don’t really fancy eating them as is. So I thought of baking a bread/cake out of them. The bread turned out fantastic!
I’m so glad, Bernice! Thank you for taking the time to make the recipe and then leave a review! ❤️
This bread is absolutely amazing – i have made this countless times and have been meaning to leave a comment – my bad 🙁
It is moist ,flavourful and soooo easy to make. I add a bit of nutmeg and ginger to mine as well.
if i could, i would give it 10 stars.
Thanks for an awesome recipe!!!
Thank you, Xena!