Old-Fashioned Date and Nut Bread

Serve with a bowl of cream cheese whipped up with a bit of sour cream.

Yield: Makes one loaf

Ingredients

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup shortening

1 pkg. (8-oz.) Dromedary Chopped Dates or Dromedary Pitted Dates, snipped

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9x 5x3-inch loaf pan. In small saucepan, bring water and shortening to a boil; pour over dates in a medium bowl. Allow mixture to stand 15 minutes. Stir to blend. Add nuts, eggs and vanilla. In small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir into date mixture until blended. Do not overmix. Pour into pan. Bake 65 - 70 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Loosen edges with spatula; turn out on wire rack to cool completely.

Source: Dromedary

Please note that some ingredients and brands may not be available in every store.