Date and ginger loaf

The thing I like about loaves is that they're basically cakes, but somehow so much easier.

I made this loaf especially for my dad, who happens to love dates. And I happen to love ginger, so I thought it was a good combination.

This is the kind of damp, cake-like loaf that keeps very well and holds its flavour. It's very good with a cup of tea or coffee. I made this loaf on a very cold, very wet early spring weekend and it was the perfect late afternoon snack, just before a nap.

Start by soaking the dates in hot water and an Earl Grey tea bag. Not the most visually appealling step of the process, I admit!

Then you add the steeped mixture into the other ingredients and stir it all up.

All ready for the oven!

And here's the finished product, complete with drizzled icing and more ginger. Yum! (Someday I'll figure out how to rotate the pictures on here!)

All ready for a tea break! Note the pieces of ginger studded throughout.

Date and ginger loaf (from the LCBO Food and Drink magazine)

1 c. coarsely chopped pitted dates
1 c. boiling water
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Earl Grey tea bag
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ c. packed brown sugar
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
½ c. finely chopped crystallized ginger
½ c. plain yogurt

Glaze
½ c. icing sugar
2 to 3 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. finely chopped crystallized ginger

1. In a medium bowl, combine dates, boiling water, baking soda and tea bag. Let cool to room temperature. Discard tea bag.

2. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

3. Grease and flour a 9x5” loaf pan.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, baking powder and salt.

5. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Stir in date mixture, crystallized ginger and yogurt until well combined. (Batter may look curdled.)

6. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture. Stir just until combined and dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top level. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of loaf comes out clean. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove loaf from the pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

7. For glaze, in small bowl, stir together icing sugar and 2 tbsp. water until smooth, adding a little more water if necessary to make the glaze thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over loaf and sprinkle evenly with crystallized ginger. Let glaze set before slicing loaf.

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate the holiday, I thought I'd post a pumpkin recipe. I've actually made this twice in the past little while, both times with great results. It's a moist bread, not too sweet, that just smacks of fall flavours. I significantly boosted the spice quotient the second time around, as I'm a sucker for cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in baked goods.

It's pretty easy to make, and doesn't require dirtying beaters. Make sure you buy pure pumpkin puree, and not pumpkin pie filing, which is already pre-spiced. Also, don't try to buy pumpkin puree on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, because no grocery store will have any available (at least that was the case in Ottawa).

In addition to boosting the spices, I took some liberties with the cider as well. The first time I made this, I reduced the cider down, but did it too quickly, so it resulted in a syrupy blob, that I then attempted to re-liquify with some more cider. The second time I made the recipe, I bypassed the reduction step altogether and just added 1/4 c. of cider directly to the bowl. I couldn't taste much of a difference between the two.

Grating the apple. Recipe calls for a Northern Spy, but I used an Empire. I also grated the whole apple and it didn't seem to affect the final product at all.

Dry ingredients getting ready. I probably added a whole teaspoon of cinnamon, and almost as much nutmeg (my substitution for mace). I put in a 1/4 tsp of cloves too, instead of a dash. Next time I'll throw in a bit of powdered ginger too.

Pumpkin Cider Bread (originally published in the Ottawa Citizen)

1 ½ c. apple cider (*see note about reduction above)
1 c. pumpkin puree
2 eggs
¼ c. canola oil
½ firmly packed brown sugar
½ c. grated Northern Spy apple (*I used Empire)
2 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground mace
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
dash of ground cloves

1. In a saucepan, boil the cider until it is reduced to about ¼ c. Remove from heat and let cool.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, brown sugar, grated apple and the reduced cider.

3.In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.

4. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until just combined.

5. Transfer batter to a well-greased 8x4” loaf pan and bake in preheated 350F oven for one hour, or until a tester comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cream cheese icing

3 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream
¼ c. icing sugar

1. Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla, cream and icing sugar in a bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth.
2. Drizzle onto cooled bread.

The final loaf! I didn't make the cream cheese recipe called for in the recipe, but mixed together a bit of icing sugar with some melted butter (about 1 tbsp.), some cinnamon and milk. It worked!