Nut Bread

Another strangely labelled recipe. Nannas of yore, we really need to sort out your naming conventions! Bread that is absolutely nothing like bread. No kneading, no proving, no yeast. Just a lot of dates and some nuts. I’m renaming this to STICKY DATE NUTTY SOMETHING. It’s not quite like a cake, nor a pudding. I’m really at a bit of a loss to explains its real purpose. The texture was soft, fluffy, full of air, slightly elastic and sticky. Like eating sticky date fluffy clouds. But it has no real sense of place; is it a dessert post-dinner, a mid-afternoon snack with a cuppa, a high tea contender? Confusing.

I took this one into work (like I do all the recipes), and I don’t think I’ve heard quite so many appreciative moans emerging from my guinea pigs work colleagues as I did today. I was told by many that this recipe, this one, is the best yet. The Coffee Biscuits That Could Bring About World Peace may have just lost their edge… (they still hold a warm fuzzy in my heart, but this Sticky Date Nutty Something was quite…wonderful). The stakes raise higher and higher with each cooking effort! I do realise this paragraph is somewhat lacking in humility, however I make no apology for the food joy I bring others. It’s how I give love. Sticky date love. That’s not a euphemism by the way.

I had to make this one twice, as does happen from time to time. It seems I had incorrectly transcribed the original handwritten recipe and typed one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda, rather than one teaspoon. That’s 20ml v. 5ml. A huge difference. I tasted the mixture prior to popping it into the baking tin, and my face may have acquired a very strange and pained expression for a long moment in time. The salt levels were horrendous. Like poison. A quick look at (my photocopy of) the original and I quickly realised my error. Effort number two with the correct version was thankfully much better! I also trebled the amount of walnuts in the second version, as the original recipe seemed a bit light on. 

  

Nut Bread

1 cup dates

1 tsp. bicarbonate soda

1 cup boiling water

1 egg

½ cup sugar

1 tbsp. butter

½ cup self-raising flour

3 tbsp. chopped walnuts

1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Grease (really well) well and line with baking paper a medium sized loaf tin.

Stone & chop the dates, place into a bowl & sprinkle the bicarbonate soda over them. Onto this, pour the cup of boiling water, stirring a little to mix through then let stand until cool.

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the well beaten egg, sifted flour and salt. Add the chopped walnuts and the date mixture, stirring well. 

Pour into prepared loaf tin, and cook for around 25-30 minutes. It browns easily so you may want to check that it's cooked by using a skewer to check the centre of the cake/pudding thing. You'll know it's done when the skewer comes away clean. 

Note, the mixture may seem quite runny before you pour it into the loaf tin, however don’t worry! It works out fine, and I think it’s meant to be like this. 

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For those of you who are not in Australia, please find here a selection of Measurement & Temperature Conversion Charts which should help with the accuracy of your own cooking.