WALNUTS bring lower back a few wonderful early life reminiscences. They have been a characteristic of the chocolate biscuits that my grandmother used to make. A completing flourish presenting a 1/2 walnut reputedly cemented into the wealthy chocolate icing she unfolds on the biscuits’ pinnacle. It always becomes a temptation to prize out the nut and eat it earlier than attacking the biscuit, the deal’s authentic hero.
Here is my favorite clean-as-pie aggregate of delicious dates and walnuts.
DATE WALNUT LOAF
This is a wet loaf; however, once in a while, I like to spread a little butter on slices of it.
Serves 12
- 170ml boiling water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 250g dates, chopped
- 160g undeniable flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 150g packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup chopped hazelnuts
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- ¼ cup melted butter cooled to room temperature
Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter a loaf tin and set it aside. In a small bowl or measuring cup, pour the boiling water over the baking soda to dissolve it. Place the dates in a blending bowl and pour the water/soda combination over them. Allow cooling. In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, and salt collectively. Set aside. In a specific bowl, beat the egg with an electric powered mixer, slowly uploading the brown sugar, beating well after every addition.
To the egg/sugar aggregate, add the cooled date combination, hazelnuts, and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the dry ingredients. Add the melted butter and blend well. Pour the aggregate into the prepared tin and bake within the oven for approximately fifty-five minutes or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Let the loaf cool for 10 minutes before getting rid of it from the tin, then cool absolutely on a rack. When shopping for dates, keep away from sticky ones or ones that have crystallized sugar at the surface.
FRESH dates need to be firm and springy and must have a fresh smell, no longer bitter.
FRESH, tender dates must be saved in plastic baggage within the fridge and will maintain for numerous weeks. DRIED dates should be a company, but no longer hard. Dried dates will preserve for up to 12 months, refrigerated. FRESH dates also can be frozen. Choose suitable great fruit, wash and put off the stones, then % them entire in inflexible containers leaving ahead area to permit expansion at some point of freezing. Use within 6 months.
YOUR OWN DATE SUGAR
BECAUSE dates are high in sugar, they can without problems be transformed into sugar. Arrange sliced dates on a baking sheet and bake at 220C for 10 to 15 minutes, or until very dry and difficult as rocks. Grind or method in a food processor to make sugar.
EATING AND STORING WALNUTS
WALNUTS can be eaten raw, as they are, or toasted to convey out extra of their flavor. Place the nuts on a baking sheet in an unmarried layer and bake on a medium warm for 10-12 minutes. They are geared up whilst the kernels turn golden. You can obtain an equal effect by way of dry-frying them. Put in a dry frying pan over a medium warmness, and maintain the pan transferring to make sure they coloration calmly and don’t burn. Leave whole, halve or chop, as required. Unshelled walnuts ought to be stored in an airtight box in a cool, darkish region — they’ll remain for around three months. Shelled walnuts should be saved in a hermetic box within the refrigerator — they’ll remain for up to six months.
