In the spirit of using things up, this bread came to fruition. I've had some dates in the fridge for a while now, and haven't been inspired to do much with them, and recently acquired some very ripe bananas. Solution? Banana date bread! It's tasty, but still feels somewhat healthy (although I'd say that about banana ice cream too, which I LOVE!), and the chopped dates give it the perfect texture. This is a winner of a loaf!
Spiced Banana Date Bread
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 70 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
Description
A healthy-ish, very hearty, and completely delicious twist on the classic banana bread. This loaf doesn't disappoint.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup very ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 ½ cups unbleached flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¾ cup dates, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9x5 loaf pan.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and combine. Add sour cream and mashed banana, and combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and all spices.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture, and stir gently until combined.
- Add chopped dates, pour into prepared pan.
- Bake for 70 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let cool 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Janet Rothermel says
Mary -
I've been following your blog for the past week at your Mom's suggestion ... she designed and maintains my website for me!
Had to tell you that I just took a loaf of the Spiced Banana Date bread out of the oven ... it smelled so great while baking I could barely let it cool before slicing off a piece.
This is a wonderful, unique recipe. I love the spicy goodness of it + thanks for sharing!
Janet.
mary says
Thanks Janet! It's always nice to have followers - especially ones who try recipes and tell me how it went! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the bread.