• Home
  • About
  • Recipe Index

Cookie Madness

menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipe Index
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • About
  • Recipe Index
×
Home » Quick Breads

Tunisian Date Nut Bread

Modified: Nov 10, 2023 · Published: Feb 6, 2016 by Anna · This post may contain affiliate links · 7 Comments

Jump to Recipe

After making the New York Times recipe for Sweet and Spicy Chicken, I had some leftover Tunisian dates. The dates definitely made the chicken dish more interesting, but I still prefer dates as dessert or breakfast and was happy to have enough left to make what I'm calling "Tunisian Date Nut Bread". Now doesn't that sound fancy?

Tunisian Date Nut Bread

Tunisian Dates

You can most definitely use any dates for this bread, but I used Tunisian dates because I liked the looks of them and they were on sale. Also known as Golden Dates or "Deglet Noir" (Queen of Dates), the Tunisian dates are a little bit firmer than Medjool dates and have a light vanilla and honey flavor. Even after being soaked in water, the Tunisian dates still have some "bite" to them which I prefer over the borderline mushiness of some other dates. I'd go so far as to say Tunisian dates are my new favorite.

Tunisian date nut bread

The Perfect Recipe

As for the bread, this recipe was deemed "perfect" by the baker and cookbook author Murray Jaffee who included it in his Perfect Recipe Baking Book.   I'm assuming he Mr. Jaffe has tried a lot more date nut bread recipes than I have, so I'll take his word. In my personal opinion, it is a very good bread and with the dark brown sugar, nuts and spices, there's a lot going on!

Tunisian Date Nut Bread

Loaf Pan Size

Mr. Jaffe's original recipe is for an 8 ½ by 4 ½ or 9x5 inch loaf and should look tall and stately if you use that size pan. My loaf, as photographed, is a bit stubbier because I halved the recipe and used an 8x4 inch pan. I wish I hadn't halved it because I like a taller loaf, but I only had 4 oz of dates. Another thing I wish is that I had more dates so that I could try this recipe with Tunisian olive oil. With all of the other flavors in this bread, butter is not really one you'd miss and the olive oil would taste good and keep the Tunisian theme going. If you try it with olive oil, let me know what you think.

  • Tunisian Orange Olive Oil Cake
  • Toasted Pecan Date Bread
  • Date Nut Chocolate Chip Meringues
  • Classic Date Bars
  • Vegan Date Paste Double Chocolate Cookies

Recipe

dark date nut bread

Date Nut Bread

Anna
Tunisian Date Nut Bread is a rich, dark, nut bread packed with dates and in this case, toasted pecans. Walnuts may also be used. This recipe halves nicely. If you want a smaller loaf, halve all the ingredients and use an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8

Ingredients
 

  • ¾ cup boiling water
  • 8 oz dates chopped (weigh)
  • ¼ cup salted butter softened
  • ¾ cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs room temperature
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour 9 oz
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
  • 1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts or pecans

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x5 inch or an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan and line with a strip of parchment paper. Dust with flour and set aside.
  • Combine the boiling water and the chopped dates and set aside for 15 minutes.
  • In a mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until well-blended. Add the vanilla and beat well, then add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together for 15 seconds. Add the flour and the buttermilk to the egg mixture alternately, stirring after each addition, until fully blended.
  • Stir the dates and water into the batter, then stir in the nuts.
  • Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake on the center rack for about 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then loosen sides and let cool completely.
Keyword date bread
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

More Quick Bread recipes on Cookie Madness

  • Picture of a blueberry bread with cream cheese filling.
    Honey Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread
  • Naan 11 is a quick recipe for naan made with self-rising flour and Greek yogurt.
    Naan One One aka Quick Yogurt Flatbread
  • Dark Date Nut Bread
    Dark Date Bread Mini Loaves
  • James Beard Gingerbread Recipe
    James Beard Gingerbread Recipe

Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *






  1. Anna says

    February 28, 2016 at 7:26 am

    Angie, thanks for the review! I'm about out of dates, but I may buy more so I can try the olive oil version. I bought some Tunisian olive oil at Trader Joe's . It's very light flavored and would probably work well in this bread.

  2. Angie says

    February 28, 2016 at 4:40 am

    5 stars
    I made this date bread with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and I did not halve the recipe. All I can say is WOW! The bread was very tall and so moist and delicious! I will definitely make this again. Thank you

  3. Anna says

    February 07, 2016 at 11:30 am

    Good question. With all the dates there's plenty of moisture, so I'd probably go with 3 to 3 1/2 tablespoons rather than a full 4.

  4. Marsha M. - SOCAL says

    February 07, 2016 at 9:16 am

    5 stars
    This sounds very good. If olive oil was used instead of butter, would you use the same amount, do you think?

  5. Anna says

    February 07, 2016 at 8:37 am

    Amy, let me know what you think. I'm not really an expert on date bread and have only made it a couple of times. This loaf was very good, but if you try it and feel you can do better, let me know.

  6. AmyM says

    February 07, 2016 at 8:26 am

    I love anything made with dates! This is definitely on my list to try soon!

  7. Sonya says

    February 07, 2016 at 7:43 am

    Mmmm!

Peanut Butter Fudge Jumbles recipe baked in a 9-inch square Pampered Chef stoneware pan.

Hello!

I'm Anna, and welcome to Cookie Madness. To learn more about me, check the About page.

About

Footer

About

Privacy

Contact

    Cookie Madness is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.

    © All rights reserved. Do not copy, distribute, or reproduce without permission.