"date nut bread" news and stories

Happy National Date Nut Bread Day!

For prominently featuring a fruit dating some 5,000 years, this cake somehow escapes the ritual insults plaguing the holiday fruitcake, to which it is astoundingly similar -- in fact our favorite recipe, a moist Canned Orange Date Nut Bread is remarkably similar in concept and makeup as the underrated fruitcake. We love the added sweetness of chewy dates and savory complexity of nuts.

What's your favorite date nut bread recipe? Share it after the jump!

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Happy National Date Nut Bread Day!

A wholesome alternative to uninspired white bread, date nut bread combines -- you guessed it! -- dates and nuts to bread loaves for a salty-sweet addition and added texture. As if that weren't flavorful enough, photographer Rosy Outlook takes the concept even further with her deluxe, moist breakfast breads (pictured above), adding a cup of coffee to the recipe and suggesting a cream cheese topping.

Great sources of protein and iron, dates have been part of the human diet for more than 5,000 years. As a result of its curious shape, the fruit is thought to have taken its name from the Greek word for finger, "daktulos." Dates require warm climates, and thus grow most prolifically in the Middle East and Africa, or, stateside, Arizona and California. Fresh dates can be kept refrigerated for up to two weeks -- or you can bake them in these breads, which will keep frozen for triple the time.

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Not to be confused with fruit cake! We'll get to that in December.

Today is National Date Nut Bread Day. I don't bake enough. And I certainly don't make bread enough. That's something I should change this fall and winter.

AllRecipes has a date nut bread recipe that has gotten some good reviews. This one from Dr. Gourmet uses Splenda and unsweetened applesauce. Here's one from hugs.org, and here's one that uses Tabasco Sauce, believe it or not. CajunCookingRecipes.com has one for Apricot-Date Nut Bread with Caramel Sauce.