Fortunately these round slices have sweet date and vanilla flavors. They also taste surprisingly buttery, especially considering the batter has only 2 tsp of butter. For some reason I expected a pale bread studded with dates and nuts. Instead the loaves turned a dark brown similar to a molasses bread. These sweet, sticky loaves were most unusual, to say the least. Though a little on the sweet side for me, it's not hard to see how the seeming unusual quickly turns to a usual treat.

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups dates, chopped
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp butter
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Instructions

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 No. 2-1/2 cans**(see note below)
* To a large bowl add dates, baking soda and butter. Pour in boiling water and let cool to lukewarm.
* Add sugar, egg and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in flour and salt then fold in nuts. Pour into prepared cans and bake 50-60 minutes (or less if using smaller cans as described below). Let stand in cans 5 minutes before turning out.

**A No. 2-1/2 can holds approximately 3-1/2 cups and usually contains food weighing 27 to 29 ounces. If you don't have 3 cans this size try replacing one or more cans with two 15-ounce cans each (also called No. 300 cans, these cans hold approximately 2 cups). Reduce the baking time for the smaller cans. I made half of a recipe and used one 28-ounce can and one 15-ounce can.

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