Michaela's Date Nut Bread

An old-fashioned date nut bread: dates simmered with butter and water, stirred into flour, sugar and walnuts, and baked in a loaf pan at 350°F for 1 hour.

Vegetarian

Contains: milk, tree nuts, wheat. Based on the ingredients as written; check package labels, which can change.

From the recipe book of Sandra Mills, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained cook in our family. The recipe is named for a member of our family.

Dark date nut bread partly sliced showing dates and walnuts, with cream cheese
  • Prep 15 min
  • Cook 1 hr 5 min
  • Total 1 hr 20 min
  • Yield 1 loaf

Updated

Jump to: Ingredients | Instructions | Tips | Print recipe

Michaela's Date Nut Bread is a classic: chopped dates are boiled with butter and water until soft, then stirred into the dry ingredients with plenty of chopped walnuts. As the recipe warns, the batter is very thick!

It bakes into a dense, moist, not-too-sweet loaf that is delicious sliced and spread with cream cheese.

Ingredients

Dates

  • 1 cup cut-up dates
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup water

Dry ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Flour for this recipeKing Arthur Baking Company makes all-purpose, bread, whole wheat and gluten-free flours.

Shop King Arthur flour

We may earn a commission if you buy through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you.

Instructions

  1. Cook the dates. Boil the dates, butter and water for 5 minutes, or until the dates are soft.
  2. Heat the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a loaf pan.
  3. Combine. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the boiled date mixture and stir until moist. The batter is very thick!
  4. Bake. Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 350°F.

Vegetarian

Tips

  • Kitchen scissors dipped in hot water make quick work of cutting up sticky dates.
  • Wrap the cooled loaf and let it sit overnight; it slices more neatly the next day.

More breads and rolls

All breads and rolls | All recipes | Cooking guide and safe temperatures