Wednesday Recipes...Pineapple-Date Bread

Another recipe from the Homemade Bread, Farm Journal/field Editor Nell B. Nichols cookbook...one of several I'm making my way through during my lifetime. This may be a strange goal for a bucket list--trying all the recipes in a certain cookbook. Does anyone

else have such goals?

Other items on my bucket list include--visit all 50 states, publish a book (done), serve as Psi Chi Vice-President (done), serve as department chair (done), visit London and Paris (done), and raise two children (are we ever done?). Your turn. :)

Pineapple-Date Loaf

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soft butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

1 (8 1/2 ounce) can crushed pineapple

1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped dates (I used already chopped and dried)

1/4 cup water (I doubled the above ingredients so had extra pineapple juice;

thus, I didn't need water)

1/4 cup maraschino cherries, well-drained

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar; add egg and lemon extract. Drain pineapple, reserving liquid. Add crushed pineapple and nuts to creamed mixture.

2. Sift dry ingredients together. Add dates and mix well, separating date pieces. Stir dry ingredients into creamed mixture alternately with reserved pineapple juice (plus water if you are making one loaf). Fold in the chopped cherries.

3. Pour into a greased 9x5x3" load pan. Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) about 55 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely.

4. The original recipe (as given here) makes one loaf. Instead, I doubled the ingredients and made four mini-loaves. I scooped out half of the batter to make two loaves without nuts and then added the 1/4 cup nuts to the last half of the batter so people with nut allergies could also enjoy! Have a blessed week!