quick bread – will garden for cake

the change in season took me by surprise. funny how that happens. one day it is warm, actually a bit hot and then in the blink of an eye, it is cold and frosty. chili seemed like the perfect solution for a dreary fall day. in our house, it isn’t a proper bowl of chili unless there is a pan of cornbread on the table.

lurking in the fridge was an open container of pumpkin puree leftover from something i baked. the idea of adding pumpkin to the cornbread recipe seemed natural to me. it would add a little flavor, a little moisture and of course, some additional nutrition and fiber. what i wasn’t expecting, that gorgeous golden color. especially since i only added 1/3 cup of the puree to the recipe.

and, dinner is served…

to make the cornbread, i turned to my favorite cornbread recipe, it can be found on the albers website by following this link. although i followed the recipe, i did make a few changes. first, i reduced the sugar to 3 tablespoons because i did not want it to be sweet. then i substituted and equal portion of buttermilk for the milk and finally, i added 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree by whisking it with the other wet ingredients. by baking it in a 9″ round pan rather than the 8″ square called for in the recipe and the addition of the pumpkin did increase the baking time a bit, i had to check it for doneness by inserting a cake tester in the center. it came out clean around the 30 minute mark in my oven. and just a note for the leftovers, cornbread makes nice toast! i cut wedges in half, horizontally and toasted them in the broiler. they were tasty with a little butter.

sometimes, you just have to do something different. generally, when i go out to the garden, i take a cake with me. nine out of ten cakes are some configuration of a bundt; they are baked in one of the many fluted/tube pans on my kitchen shelf. not this time. this cake was baked in a large loaf pan.

over the years, i have baked date-nut bread many times. it is a favorite of my husband and me for that matter. when i realized that i had a large tub of dates in the fridge, hidden there by my husband so that he could snack on them secretly, i knew i had to make a loaf of bread.

orange date-walnut loaf

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1 (9x5x3) loaf

adapted from desserts from the famous loveless cafe

(a little shameless self promotion, can’t help it…)

1 cup walnut pieces

6 ounces unsalted butter, soft

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup good quality wildflower honey

1 orange-zested

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup chopped dates

2/3 cup sour cream

preheat the oven to 350. grease and flour a 9x5x3 loaf pan and set it aside. place the walnuts into a baking dish and toast them until fragrant, about 5 minutes.

in a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, honey, orange zest and salt until fluffy, about 3 minutes. add the eggs, one at a time and continue to beat until once again light and fluffy-another 2 minutes or so. scrape the bowl well.

sift the flour and baking soda over the batter in the bowl. fold it in by hand a few times. add the walnuts, dates and sour cream and fold the batter until it is evenly mixed. scrape the batter into the loaf pan. bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about an hour. immediately turn the loaf out onto a rack and allow it to cool completely, if you can. serve slices with soft butter if you like.

Category: quick bread

pumpkin cornbread; pair it with chili

orange-date walnut loaf