During my last trip to a Russian grocery store a couple weeks ago, I picked up a jar of rose petal preserves. I had no real use for the rose petal preserves, but I suddenly decided that I needed to make a quick bread to eat with the preserve. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of quick bread I was going to make until I opened up the pantry and gathered together all my favorite ingredients and spices. Medjool dates are treasures in dried fruit form and pistachios are my nut of choice for desserts. I initially didn’t think the bread would be “blog worthy”, since this was my first attempt at making a quick bread in many years. I changed my mind after the first bite. The bread is moist, fluffy, and bursting with flavor. My only regret is that I didn’t make two loaves.
Tip: Orange blossom water can be found at Middle Eastern grocery stores and specialty shops. If unavailable in your area, substitute with vanilla extract, rose water, or orange zest.
Medjool Date and Pistachio Spice Bread
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1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 cup yogurt (I used whole)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons orange blossom water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups medjool dates, pitted and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup pistachios, chopped
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, mix together the beaten egg, butter, sugar, honey, orange blossom water, and yogurt. In another large bowl, mix together salt, flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and nutmeg. In small batches, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in the pistachios and medjool dates. Spoon in the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean (check to see if the bread is done after about 45 minutes, my oven is old and often unreliable. Baking time for this loaf was about 62 minutes). Cool before serving.
Yields 8-12 slices
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