DEATH VALLEY DATE NUT BREAD

 I know I have shared several recipes with dates over the last few weeks. I do love dates even as fruit not in any recipe. This recipe that I am finally getting around to sharing is in Volume One of The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook was presented from the Furnace Creek Resort in Death Valley, CA. I thought I would check out the resort and discovered it is now called The Ranch at Death Valley. It sounds like a nice place. We have been to Death Valley before but never to the resort.

Anyway, I made the bread to take to Hillcrest Thrift Shop for the volunteers before Christmas and before I took a break so that we could self-isolate for 10 days before going to CO to celebrate Christmas with our older son, Jeffrey, and his family. The instructions were a little brief so I used my years of experience and have given instructions on the way I prepared the bread in parenthesis.

DEATH VALLEY DATE NUT BREAD

2       cups chopped dates

*     *     *

4       cups sifted flour (sift flour before measuring)

1       cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1       cup sugar

1       cup chopped walnuts

1/2    cup (1 stick) butter, softened

3       teaspoons salt

3       teaspoons baking soda

Soak the dates in hot water for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 360 degrees F. (The resort uses 2 aluminum foil loaf pans - size not indicated. I made one 9 x 5 - inch loaf and one smaller 4 x 6 - inch loaf.) 

TIP: Sift 4 cups of flour and

then remeasure 4 cups to use in the recipe.

(It does make a difference in the amount of flour you will be using in the recipe. Amount I had left over after sifting the 4 cups.)

**Blend all ingredients except the dates.

(I combined the dry ingredients first

with a whisk and

then added the butter.

There isn't enough butter to really do a whole lot but I did combine it with the dry ingredients to some degree.

I strained the dates from the water

to measure the cup initially added and strained the rest of the dates before adding them.

Since the recipe didn't indicate how much water to soak the dates in, I felt the water wasn't to be added.

***Add 1 cup of the dates and mix until smooth,

add the remaining dates and

mix well.

***Pour into loaf pans. (I prepared two 9 x 5 - inch loaf pans and filled one first. I did not have enough batter to fill the second one. I chose a loaf pan about 4 x 6 - inches for the rest. The recipe says it makes two  2 pound loaves.)

***Bake for approximately 1 hour. (I cooked the smaller loaf about 30 to 40 minutes and the larger one about 50 minutes.)

Cool in pans on wire rack. Wrap in foil to store.