Date Loaf

I was itching to bake after slowing down for ages, well... if you notice of my poor blog being in a neglected state. After going through the fridge and larder, I've found packets of dried fruits and various nuts other than the usual flour, sugar, butter etc. Browse some recipe books and finally chanced upon 2 recipes using dates and nuts. With further scrutinising of the methods for the recipes, I finally decided to use the recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2. Hehe all because it's simple and easy!

I got on to weigh and measure my ingredients, and it was a quick 30 minutes (includes washing up, excluding baking time heh).

The Date Loaf turned out perfectly... moist with a light hint of butter. The loaf itself is not sweet at all even though I did not reduce the amount like usual. The sweetness from the dates pieces is good enough since I do not like achingly sweet stuff. A repeat to churn out more of such loaf is on the way since the recipe seems a little healthy...

Date Loaf
Recipe from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup roughly chopped pitted dates
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecan nuts (I've roasted them before chopping)
125 g butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Pre-heat oven to 160C. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar, dates and pecans; mix to combine and set aside.

Place butter and milk in a saucepan over low heat and cook till butter is melted. Add to flour mixture with eggs. Stir until combined. Spoon into a greased 10cm x 20cm loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins or until cooked when tested with skewer.

Cool in tin for 5 mins before slicing. Serve plain or with butter.