Pumpkin-Date Bread

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed (dark) brown sugar (I used light, since it’s what I had on hand)

1 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil, but coconut is much better for you)*

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups pumpkin puree, or one 15-ounce can of pumpkin

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2/3 cup apple juice

1 cup roughly chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped dates**

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 X 5-inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, blend the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil with an electric mixer on medium speed, until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the pumpkin puree, and blend until smooth.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients. To the creamed mixture add in the following order, beating after each addition just until incorporated: a third of the flour mixture; half of the apple juice; half of the remaining flour mixture; the remaining apple juice; then the remaining flour mixture. Stir in the chopped nuts and dates. Pour the batter into the pans. Bake in the oven for 1 hour- 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. (I have one glass and one metal loaf pan. The loaf in the metal pan was ready in about 1 hour, the glass pan loaf took an additional 10-15 minutes). If the tops are browning too quickly, cover lightly with aluminum foil the last 10-15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans. Cool on a wire rack.

• Coconut oil can be a little expensive. If you have a Costco membership, they’ve recently started carrying a large tub of coconut oil for around $15. Great buy!

** A quick way to chop dates is to place them in a food processor with 1 tablespoon flour for each cup of dates. Pulse until the dates are the size of corn kernels. The flour keeps them from clumping together.