Brimming with fruit and nuts, Fig & Date Nut Bread packs a lot of nutrition and flavor into every bite. Great for breakfast spread with cream cheese or as an afternoon snack with your favorite beverage.
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I gave a slice of this rich, moist bread to a friend to see if she liked it. She loved it and took a loaf home to share with her husband. It vanished quickly!
Mini fig & date nut bread loaves
I like to bake this bread in smaller loaves for several reasons. With just the two of us we don’t (or shouldn’t) eat a whole loaf that quickly. So, I wrap and freeze the other loaves to keep just-baked freshness whenever we pull it from the freezer and thaw.
Smaller loaves are just the right size to share. They make a sweet surprise to give to a neighbor or leave on a coworkers desk.
Here is how to make fig & date nut quick bread
What you will need.
Begin by chopping 1 cup dried pitted dates.
Chop 1 cup dried figs.
In a large bowl, combine the dates, figs, 4 tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda.
Pour in 1 cup boiling water. Stir well and let stand for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
After the fig and date mixture has sat for 15 minutes, add 1/2 cup sugar, a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and 2 eggs and stir to beat together.
Combining the wet and dry ingredients for fig & date nut bread
Add the flour mixture to the fig and date mixture. Fold until just blended.
This is what the finished batter looks like.Spoon into the prepared pan(s) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes for the regular size loaf pan or 35-40 minutes for the mini-loaf pans.
Cool on a rack for 15 minutes.
Turn breads out of pans to cool completely.
Note about pans
I do lots of baking, often doubling and sometimes tripling recipes. I have received food gifts myself gifted in pans. So I have accumulated a collection. Some are metal and some are ceramic. They all work very well and I don’t really have a preference.
The different loaf pans vary slightly is size and therefore, when I divide the batter, I might fill four pans resulting in four slightly smaller loaves. A slight adjustment of the baking time, baking until a toothpick inserted comes out clean ensures a perfect loaf.
So don’t worry if your pans are all a little different 🙂
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Fig & Date Nut Bread
Recipe slightly adapted from Williams Sonoma
Makes 1 loaf or 3 mini-loaves
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup chopped pitted dates
- 1 cup chopped dried figs
- 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat an oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour (or use the homemade cake release recipe below) a 1-lb. loaf pan or 3 mini-loaf pans.
In a large bowl, combine the dates, figs, butter and baking soda. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and let stand for 15 minutes.
Using a spoon or whisk, beat the sugar, walnuts and eggs into the date mixture; set aside.
In another bowl, stir and toss together the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the date mixture and stir until just blended.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes for the regular size loaf pan or 35-40 minutes for the mini-loaf pans.
Transfer the pan(s) to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes; turn the loaf(s) out onto the rack and let cool completely.
Nutrition Facts
I ran this recipe through a recipe analyzer for a nutrition panel that you may find helpful.
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