Mellow Date Nut Bread

Total Time: 1 hr 40 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled,plus additional
• butter, for greasing the loaf pan
• 2 cups flour, plus
• additional flour, for dusting the pan
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups pitted dates, chopped coarsely
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Recipe

• 1 preheat the oven to 350 degrees f.
• 2 make sure the rack is in the center of the oven.
• 3 lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap out the excess.
• 4 spread the nuts on a baking sheet and place in oven until slightly darkened in color and yummy-smelling, about 8 minutes.
• 5 remove the nuts from the oven and allow to them to cool.
• 6 transfer the nuts to a cutting board and coarsely chop (i've even pulsed them in the food processor, much easier).
• 7 meanwhile, stir together the water, baking soda and dates in a medium bowl.
• 8 cover and set aside until the dates have softened, about 20 to 30 minutes.
• 9 stir the melted butter and sugar together in a medium bowl.
• 10 add the eggs and stir until combined.
• 11 stir in the date mixture until well combined.
• 12 in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and nuts.
• 13 stir the butter/sugar/egg/date mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just moistened.
• 14 scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the surface with the rubber spatula.
• 15 bake until dark brown and a skewer (in my house this means a match) inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
• 16 cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.