Date Nut Bread

Sweet, old-fashioned date nut bread with that vintage Dromedary flavor-soft & chewy dates, toasted pecans, and thick slices perfect with cream cheese and hot coffee. It smells like holiday mornings and grandma's kitchen, all wrapped into one cozy loaf. It's the kind of cozy quick bread that makes the house smell nostalgic and pulls you straight into holiday baking mode.

Table of Contents

• 🗝️ Why this vintage date nut loaf is still the best
• 📖 Recipe
• 🧾 Simple ingredients for date quick bread
• 🔪 How to make the Dromedary date nut bread recipe
• Dromedary date nut bread baked in a can
• 👩‍🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs
• 📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love
• 💬 Comments

Listen, y'all, the minute this loaf hits the oven, the house smells like someone dug up your childhood, polished it with butter, and handed it back warm. My mom clipped the original Dromedary Date Nut Bread recipe right off the back of the box-one of those faded cards tucked in her green recipe tin with Bing Crosby humming in the background and a pot of strong coffee doing its holy work.

Slice it thick, slather it with cream cheese like you're trying to make up for a hard week, and settle in. This is vintage holiday baking, pure and simple. No fuss. No complicated ingredients. Just sweet dates, toasted pecans, and the kind of quick bread that belonged on every 1970s kitchen counter next to the percolator.

And yes, it makes an absurdly good gift. Wrap it in wax paper and watch people lose their minds over how "just like grandma's" it tastes. It's the kind of recipe that lives in a tin box for 40 years and still tastes like going home every single time.

🗝️ Why this vintage date nut loaf is still the best

• Classic Dromedary-style flavor-sweet dates, crunchy pecans, buttery crumb.
• Uses pantry staples and no mixer needed.
• Perfect with cream cheese or honey, and your favorite coffee or espresso. I recommend this salted caramel latte.
• Great make-ahead quick bread for holidays, gifting, or cozy winter mornings.

Download the kitchen cheat sheet. Think of this as your secret weapon - it's got the extra details that make your date nut bread taste like you inherited your grandma's baking powers, minus the trauma and the Tupperware avalanche. Grab it, print it, tape it to your fridge - future-you will bless present-you every single time.

📖 Recipe

🧾 Simple ingredients for date quick bread

Everything here is as straightforward as your grandmother's opinions. Dates. Nuts. Butter. Flour. Boom.

• All-purpose flour - the trusty workhorse of every respectable Southern kitchen.
• Granulated sugar - sweet enough to make the dates feel appreciated.
• Eggs - slightly beaten, like your patience during the holidays.
• Butter - melted into pure liquid gold.
• Chopped dates - the star of the show; soft, sweet, and criminally underrated.
• Baking soda - the magic that keeps everything from turning into a sad brick.
• Boiling water - to soften those dates and mind your business.
• Vanilla - a splash of cozy in every bite.
• Salt - just enough to balance the sweetness like a Southern mama mediating family drama.
• Toasted pecans - because we're Texans and we know how to do nuts properly.

🔪 How to make the Dromedary date nut bread recipe

This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the page. Click on the image to see it full size.

1. Toss the diced dates and salt into a big mixing bowl like you mean it.
2. Pour the melted butter and boiling water over them - let the heat work its softening magic.
3. Stir in the pecans and beaten eggs, then fold in the flour mixture until everything's cozy.
4. Spread the batter into your greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake until the kitchen smells like holiday memories.

Dromedary date nut bread baked in a can

The Dromedary date company stopped producing date nut bread baked in a can in 2015 but you can replicate it at home. Here's how -

1. Thoroughly clean 5 15-ounce cans.
2. Grease and flour them generously.
3. Follow recipe instructions for the batter.
4. Spoon batter into cans, filling about ⅔ full and pressing batter down firmly with a spoon. Don't overfill!
5. Place cans on a baking sheet. Place a greased baking sheet upside down over the tops of the cans.
6. Bake as directed but only for 40-45 minutes. Internal temperature of loaf should be 200F when done.

👩‍🍳 Let's answer those questions: FAQs

Have other questions? Download the kitchen cheat sheet or ask me in the comments!

📚 More Southern comfort: related recipes you'll love

If this date nut bread has you feeling all nostalgic and swoony, you're in good company - my kitchen practically turns into a time machine this time of year. When you're ready for your next cozy loaf, try my apple fritter bread with its cinnamon-swirled apple magic, the old fashioned cranberry nut bread that tastes like every holiday morning you ever loved, or the Hawaiian banana bread that brings sunshine to even the gloomiest Tuesday. Each one is a little different, but they all carry that same "grandma's kitchen but with better lighting" energy you know and adore.

This, along with the fruitcake recipe, is part of a small group of faded and frayed recipe cards of my mother's that I cherish.

Even before I was old enough to read a calendar I could tell Christmas was on its way because the smell of my mother's date nut bread would waft through the house almost weekly. Spread with a thick layer of cream cheese, it was the perfect afternoon snack while we listened to Bing Crosby sing Christmas songs on the radio.

I hope you give this a try and it makes years of great memories for your family, too.

If you love this recipe please comment below and give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️