In honor of TODAY, being National Date Nut Bread Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Soup Can Date Nut Bread”, like Sanders’ once had; as seen in her self-published cookbook, The Original 200 Plus Secret Recipes© Book (Secret RecipesTM, Marysville, MI; June 1997, p. 39). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
SOUP CAN DATE NUT BREAD, Like Sanders’
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… The Copycat Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1988, p. 39) and edited by TheRecipeDetective.com.
At one time, Sanders had a bread like this! [NOTE: You need to collect 10 to 12 soup cans (10- to 11-oz each) ahead of time, for making this.]
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups boiling water
2-tsp baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
2-tsp butter
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, well beaten
INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine dates, nuts, and boiling water in a large mixing bowl. Let cool to luke warm, stirring often. Add soda, sugar, and butter and stir well. Add remaining ingredients, in order given, until it’s all well-moistened; beating on low speed with electric mixer or using a wooden spoon. Grease well 10 to 12… soup cans (10- to 11-oz each).
Secure [with masking tape, 2] pieces of string, [2] inches longer than the depth [x2, plus the width] of [each] can [crisscrossed] in the center of the lid of [each] can… [Then] drop [the lids] into the bottoms of each can [taped side down, hanging strings over the top edges, per illustrations (above), so the baked cakes can be pulled out by pulling on the stings…]
Fill each can half full of batter. Bake upright on center rack of oven at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes or until [it tests “done”] by inserting a long [thin, wooden skewer carefully down into the center of the bread]. It should come out clean of any wet batter.
Cool [mini loaves] 30 minutes before removing from cans. (NOTE: Because the bottom ends of these cans now have a rounded, molded construction and will not open easily with a can opener, the string-thing works best for getting the cakes out easily.)
See also…
