Date Nut Bread

Our family tradition for Christmas day goes like this:

Gather together and open stockings. Our stockings are stretchy thigh-high 1950's red vintage tights that belonged to my sister. Additional stockings are red cable high socks. The stockings get so big that they can either be hung with serious hardware or propped up by the fireplace. Stocking presents include an orange in the toe, canned pineapple, olives, and packs of gum individually wrapped. When the children were little, they left Santa a note and cookies. Santa obligingly ate the cookies and sometimes left a boot print in the fireplace ashes.

After stocking opening with much admiration and thanks for Santa's ingenuity, it's time for breakfast. The breakfast tradition must have evolved since the children were grown. The menu is fruit salad (add an orange and pineapple from the stockings), mimosas (champagne and orange juice) and date nut bread with cream cheese. After breakfast, we sit around and open the presents under the tree. Every year presents arrive from S.C. (Santa Claus), Rudolph, The Elves who bring tools, the The Muse who brings music.

The Date Nut Bread recipe is another classic submitted by my Mom aka Bubbe to Not for Noshers Only (Page 133). Incidentally, if you contact the Beth Israel Synagogue in Lebanon, PA, I'm told they still have some for sale. My Mom said she got the recipe from Cousin Jane. It's an unusual recipe in the way the ingredients are put together. No fancy techniques are required. You can serve the loaf right side up or up side down - or cut into slices and arrange on a plate. Pick the way that looks best. I hope you will add Date Nut Bread to your Christmas tradition. This is the best I've ever tasted.

Date Nut Loaf
1 8 0z package chopped dates
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 TBLS butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream cheese to serve with Date Nut Bread.

Heat over to 350

Prepare 1 large or 2 mini loaf pans by spraying with Pam or grease well and line bottom with wax paper.

Put chopped dates in a bowl. Sprinkle baking soda on top. Pour in hot water and stir. Let cool.

Put chopped walnuts in a bowl. Add baking power. Stir.

In a large bowl beat butter and sugar together with a mixer. Add the egg and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla.

Alternately add flour and date mixture, stirring after each addition with a spatula or wooden spoon. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cup flour but I''ve found that this makes the batter too thin. If this happens to you, add another 1/4 of flour. The batter should be thick but not stiff.

Put batter in pans. Fill to about 1 inch from the top.

Bake 50 minutes (the original recipe says) to an hour (more likely) or until done. The top should look firm. Poke a toothpick into the date nut bread. It is done when no crumbs stick to it. Turn the loaf out of the pan and let it cool on a baking rack.

When thoroughly cool, wrap in foil. These make nice presents made in mini-loaf pans. Cut into slices and serve with cream cheese. The date nut bread keeps well for several days or can be frozen.