Death Valley Date Nut Bread from Furnace Creek Inn, in Death Valley, California

Okay, Erma, it isn’t Cheese Dumpling weather. Ice Water Soup sounds good though. I am TIRED of hot, humid weather!! I WANT fall!! I want to start making Fall recipes. I want to start baking again.

Actually, I did some baking this week. It was my turn to provide refreshments for Woman’s Club. Helen Anderson provided the fruit trays and I was asked by make my famous Death Valley Date Nut Bread, and serve it sliced thin with cream cheese.

Talk about an old recipe. This comes from when Fred Harvey’s company ran the Furnace Creek Inn, which must have been in the ‘20’s and “30’s; and I am willing to bet that this was one of the original dried fruit/nut bread recipes. It was one of those things that everyone who went to Death Valley had to have.

Furnace Creek Inn is still in Death Valley, but it not as elegant a resort as it was fifty or sixty years ago. It was closed for the season when we were there two years ago, and look a little down at the heels. But then it was July, and hotter than blue blazes.

Remember the trick to chopping dates? Don’t try the food processor. You get sticky gobs, and I speak from experience there. Use kitchen scissors and a tall glass of hot water. Snip a few dates until the blades get sticky, then just dip them into the hot water and you are ready to snip away some more.

Death Valley Date Nut Bread from Furnace Creek Inn, in Death Valley, California:

3 ¾ cups dates
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
3 ¼ cups boiling water

Using kitchen scissors, chop the dates into small pieces. Dip the scissors into hot water if the blades begin to become sticky. Pour the boiling water and soda over the dates and let set 20 minutes.

1/3 cup shortening or butter
3 ½ cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
¾ ounce of vanilla
8 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 ounces of chopped nuts, walnuts are best

In mixer, cream the shortening and sugar for 5 minutes. (That was the original recipe, if you are using the heavy duty mixer, you can reduce the time to a little over 3 minutes.) Add the eggs and vanilla and continue beating for 2 minutes.

Combine the flour and the salt and slowly add to the creamed mixture. Finally stir in the nuts.

Prepare 4 greased loaf pans, and then fill the pans. Bake for one hour at 350. Cool on cooling racks.

Makes 4 loaves of about 14 slices each.