My sister and I have spent months going through our parent’s home, navigating through 70 years of memorabilia. Among the treasures that we found was our mom’s Betty Crocker Cookbook that she received Christmas 1959. It is worn…actually falling apart. It is soiled……so many pages have her food-coated fingerprints. It was loved and enjoyed by her for almost 60 years.
I can recall this cookbook, opened on our red formica kitchen table, and mom in her apron following her favorite recipe. Usually she was baking from it’s pages, and nothing made me happier. She had her favorite recipes, and I liked each one better than the next.
Going through Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book was a history lesson steeped in memories for me. The pictures of the 1950s housewife, cooking in a beautiful dress and heels, is truly a slice of life that has disappeared (thank goodness). The recipes have changed as well. There is no mention of healthy ingredients, caloric or fat content, and surely the more sugar the better for these desserts.
In deciding which recipe to try first, I went through the cookbook, page by page, stopping and marking any page that was soiled by her food and her fingerprints. Sixty years later and I can still smell and taste each one of her favorite recipes…….the ones where the spine of the book opens flatly. I remember her apron. I remember the standing Sunbeam mixmaster sitting on the counter. I remember her smile. She was always happy when she was cooking for her family. I remember waiting with anticipation for that first slice of whatever it was she was baking. It warms my heart to just recall this scene.
So after much deliberation I decided to begin my journey down memory lane within this cookbook with “Date and Nut Loaf.” It was always one of my favorites. She usually made it for afternoon coffee with a neighbor or one of my aunts. I especially loved it when it was spread with cream cheese and made into small tea sandwiches. If we were lucky, it appeared at the breakfast table the next morning.
My first bite of the date and nut loaf brought back many memories. The taste was so familiar, even though I can’t even imagine when the last time was that I’d had it. It was as if I’d had a slice yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how many memories our taste buds have locked away. One bite and I’m back in time……a special time, that I love to visit over and over.
Recipe: 1 loaf
- Pour 1 1/2 cups boiling water over ……1 1/2 cups cut-up dates
- Let cool.
- Mix thoroughly…. 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 TBSP soft shortening and 1 egg
- Stir in the dates and water.
- Sift together and stir in…2 1/4 cups sifted flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt
- Blend in 1 cup broken nuts. Use either walnuts or pecans.
- Pour into a well greased 9x5x3 loaf pan.
- Let stand for 20 minutes before baking
- Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 60 to 70 minutes.
My Kitchen Memories 
My mother had the same cookbook but it was the 1950 version that was a 3 ring binder style. I learned to cook from that book and love date nut bread. Date nut is loved by a few discriminating palates in our family. 😀
In one of your photos you have a shot of the blueberry buckle recipe. I use that one often. A family favorite.
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After my dad died I searched my grandma’s kitchen searching for her 4 x 5 card, covered in finger prints also, Date Nut Bread recipe. Sadly it was gone. I remember the smells of grandma baking it for Christmas. I think this might be it. Thank you. Patricia
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I hope this is the recipe you are looking for!! There’s nothing better than recreating those heavenly smells and memories….especially during the Holidays!
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What a treasure you have! My mother in law always made a date loaf cake during the holidays. No one in the family like it but me and my father in law! This is the closest recipe I’ve found like hers.
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My Mom used to make this same recipe but I thought it had dark molasses
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My mother didn’t bake the date/nut loaf, but instead bought the pre-sliced supermarket one (I think it was Thomas’s). She shmeared it with Philadelphia cream cheese and together we ate it for lunch. A happy kitchen memory for me too. I especially remember that sticky, gooey topping from the packaged loaf. I’d like to try this Betty Crocker recipe, but I’ll use canola oil in place of the crisco. Thank you for sharing your stories.
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One of my favorite recipes. Thanks for sharing. Gonna make it right now. 😁
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OMG we came from the same background. My Mom had the same book that looked like your Mother’s too. I loved my Mom’s date nut bread with cream cheese. I haven’t had it in years. Good to reminisce to those simpler times.
Thank you for the memories.
Marianna >
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