With the absence of many baking essentials at the moment, I wanted to put out a recipe that could use your pantry staples and was super simple and comforting. What is better than old fashion date loaf? Not many ingredients and takes less than an hour to make and bake!
Let us get our ISO bake on!
INGREDIENTS
Serves 8
140 grams [1 cup] pitted dates
250 ml [1 cup] boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
20 grams [1 tab] unsalted butter
135 grams [¾ cup] brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
225 grams [1½ cups] self raising flour
½ teaspoon salt
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 180C. Butter and flour a 21cm X 11cm metal loaf tin and line the base with baking paper.
Finely chop the pitted dates and place in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with baking soda and cover with a cup of boiling water. Stand for 20 minutes.
Sift flour and salt together before setting aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until incorporated. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to mix on a medium speed until light and fluffy.
Stir in date mixture before mixing in the flour until combined.
Pour the mixture into your loaf tin, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 35 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Allow the loaf to cool in the tin on a wire cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before turning out.
Slather with butter before eating!
STORAGE
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for two days or in the refrigerator for up to five days.
TIPS + TRICKS
Check on the loaf at the 30 minute mark – if the top of the loaf is looking dark, lay a piece of aluminium over the top to prevent it colouring further.
When adding the date mixture to the butter, sugar and egg, it will look very wet. Do not worry! Once you add the flour, it becomes a lovely consistency.