Tag: date recipe

I have a sweet tooth. I love mornings with smooth, bitter coffee and enjoy a baked good to balance the bitterness. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a decent store-bought banana bread that doesn’t take gluey. However, I also love eating bananas, so the flavor profile of sweet bananas, dates, and roasted nuts is highly appealing. During the pandemic, with the extra free time I had, I vowed to learn to cook and invested in a few cookbooks. Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinshpan was one of those books. Eden is a top chef host and (as her social media presents) a down-to-earth girl next door, super chef, mom, and wife who knows how to cook good food. I have made this banana bread recipe and several others from her esteemed cookbook and have never regretted purchasing her cookbook.

Recipe

Coconut-Walnut Crumb Topping (I substituted pecans)

¼ Cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup of unsweetened coconut flakes

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp or melted

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of cardamom (optional)

½ teaspoon of salt

Banana Bread

8 Tablespoons (1 stick or ½ cup of butter) melted and cooled

1 & ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup of dark brown sugar (I substituted coconut sugar)

3 ripe bananas mashed

6 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped (about ½ cup)

1/3 cup of whole milk yogurt or sour cream (I used lactose free Greek yogurt)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of salt

1/3 cup lightly toasted and chopped walnuts (optional)

Additions

Salted butter

Flakey Sea Salt

Honey

Date Jam

Step 1

Make the banana bread crumble topping

In a small bowl add nuts, flour, coconut flakes, brown sugar, butter cinnamon, and kosher salt. Mix until it resembles a crumble texture.

Step 2

Make the Banana Bread

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, used a hand mixer or whisk to combine the melted butter with brown sugar, bananas, dates, yogurt or sour cream, eggs and vanilla.
3. In another medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, shredded coconut, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture. Fold in a the additional nuts (optional) and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
5. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the batter and then gently press the topping into the batter.
6. Place the pan on baking sheet, in case of drips and bake until a skewer comes clean. Approximately 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. If the top of the bread starts to get to dark, cover it with aluminum foil.
7. Serve with butter, sea salt, honey and/or date jam.

Date Jam (optional topping for the banana bread…also great additive for a charcuterie plate!)

Makes 1 Cup

20 pitted Medjool dates

In a small pot combine the dates with 2 cups of water. Over medium heat, simmer the dates as you break them up with a spoon. This will take about 3-5 minutes. Then transfer to a blender and blend until creamy. Transfer mixture back to the pot and cook over medium heat until it thickens to a jamlike consistency, 5-10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the jam to cool before storing it in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.