LUCY BURDETTE: You might remember that the Key West Woman’s Club Cookbook from the 1940s was an important part of the story line in A DISH TO DIE FOR. I was determined to try a few more of their recipes, and this one jumped right out at me because it’s so simple. It's all made in one bowl so the clean up is easy too. We served it with ice cream on the side but next time I would whip up some cream and offer that as a topping.
Ingredients
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
Two eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 3/4 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, optional
1/2 pound dates
Preheat the oven to 350.
Pit the dates and cut them into pieces. Add them to a bowl with all the other ingredients and beat together for about three minutes. You should be able to see the date flecks floating in the batter.
Butter and flour a cake pan and scrape the batter into the pan. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes, testing to be sure it’s not getting dry. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
What's your standby recipe for a super easy Sunday supper dessert?
Plus, for those of you whose weather is snowy or icy or otherwise gloomy, I thought I'd share some pix from the fabulous garden tour put on by the Key West Garden Club yesterday so you can enjoy vicariously!
Yum . . . the date cake sounds delicious and I love that it’s so easy to make. Definitely on my must-try list . . . .
ReplyDeleteOne of our easy Sunday supper desserts is rice pudding . . . it’s one of John’s favorites [and easy to make, too].
I love the Garden Club pictures . . . and [yay!] the snow stayed north of us [big smile here!]
Joan, we love rice pudding but any rice pudding recipe I have ever tried has me stirring a pot for a hour. Please share your recipe.
DeleteYes, I love rice pudding too! Joan, if you want that pudding on the blog, I bet Deb would host you next week. Let us know!
DeleteAnother rice pudding lover here. Danielle
DeleteI make rice pudding the same way my mother did. I add about a cup of COOKED rice to the ingredients for baked custard and put it in the oven. If I remember to do it, every once in a while I will open the oven and give the dish a stir so that the rice is not all on the bottom. But even if it is it's till delicious.
DeleteJoan, I'd be delighted to host your rice pudding recipe. Yum. You can email me at deb at deborahcrombie dot com
DeleteI use leftover rice to make this pudding.
DeletePut about 2 cups of cooked rice in a saucepan
Add 2 tablespoons sugar [or you can use brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey]
Add 1-1/2 to 2 cups light cream [or milk]
1 teaspoon vanilla
OPTIONAL [but yummy] add 1 cup golden raisins or craisins
Stir; bring to a simmer.
Cover; cook over low heat until the pudding has the desired consistency. [This usually takes about seven minutes.]
You can adjust the thickness by adding more cream to thin it or cooking longer to make it thicker. I usually give it a stir once or twice while it is simmering, but it is not necessary to stir constantly.
Stir the pudding; serve warm.
I cannot even imagine that level of sunshine and flowers! So glorious! And if I told you my go to for an easy dessert, especially outside on the patio, I know you would smile… Ice cream in Dixie cups! A big bowl with a wide selection of flavors, and everybody gets to pick what they want. And they still come with little wooden spoons attached to the cups.
ReplyDeletesuch a good idea Hank!!
DeleteOh, my, Hank! Thank you for the wonderful memory…still with wooden spoons. Love it. Elisabeth
DeleteIt’s so easy, and so much fun, and… Delicious!
DeleteWhat beautiful flowers! I am not really much of a dessert person, but I do like ice cream and I always like a good cookie!
ReplyDeleteMe too on cookies but only homemade:)
DeleteI love dates, so I will definite make this cake. And thanks for the photos of flowers, Lucy--especially the gorgeous orchids. I have five orchids under one window in our living room, one of which is blooming madly at the moment, but generally I'm always trying to coax them to produce flowers. As for go-to desserts, I always fall back on the Joy of Cooking brownie recipe, which is a huge hit with the Swiss. You can buy brownies in a few Swiss bakeries, but they're much too cake-y for my taste.
ReplyDeletethat's fun to have a recipe that Swiss friends love! I've never made the one from J of C--always baby brownies from the Silver Palate.
DeleteKing Arthur Flour has the recipe that never fails to WOW! When needing a quick hostess gift, that is my go-to homemade dessert.
DeleteThat cake looks great, Roberta. You brought back a memory of an little place on the way east from Los Angeles to Joshua Tree that sold date milkshakes - swoon-worthy.
ReplyDeleteI just came from a warm place lush with gorgeous flowers, so I get it (even though here it's eight degrees outside with a half inch of new snow covering treacherous ice patches).
I sometimes make up a chocolate chip cookie recipe but press it into a big rimmed cookie sheet for bars, which is much easier. In a real pinch I'll extract one of the boxes of carefully hoarded Girl Scout cookies from the downstairs freezer and array them on a pretty plate. It's a good thing they are for sale now - I'm down to the last box from last year!
The date milkshake sounds divine!!
DeleteShields Date Garden. They used to have a tiny wooden movie theatre where all day on continuous loop played “The romance and sex life of the date”. Also might I humbly suggest for date lovers, sticky toffee pudding?
DeleteRoberta, don't you have some special guests this weekend? Please tell us about your visits them so we can be really envious besides of your flowers and your sunshine!! Sending wishes to all for a great time together.
ReplyDeleteThe date cake does look quick and easy. When I subscribed to Bon Appétit in the early 1970's, I cut out a fabulous recipe for pumpkin bread that has dates in it. I still make it every autumn. Now that I bake bread every week, several recipes call for dried fruits and I frequently use dates. Delicious!
There are always some home baked goodies in our freezer. Today I may bake something blueberry, I'm thinking. Also, it is just about time for me to bake one of your strawberry cake recipes. Soon!
Yes we do have special guests! I picked Debs up yesterday and we're having dinner with Hallie tonight. Debs is going to do a Key West post this coming week with lots of pix!
DeleteWeek after next is what I meant to say!
DeleteAs we are coming up on what would be my mom’s 87th birthday this week, I can’t help but smile and remember her pulling out a box of Little Debbie oatmeal pies and telling the kids she baked for them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the cheery, colorful garden photos! They are a great pickmeup as I gaze out at our mountains of white in the yard.
You're very welcome!
DeleteLUCY: Thanks for the beautiful garden photos! Yesterday was the last day of our mini-deep freeze in Ottawa with a high temperature of -14C/7F. It's currently that temperature now but we're going all the way up to 0C/32F. Yippee!
ReplyDeleteA real easy dessert I make is chocolate avocado mousse. Blitz the ingredients in a food processor and chill. It's also kinda healthy with the avocado & dark chocolate.
I am trying to imagine what that would taste like… And what color it is. Does the avocado disappear into the chocolate? Is it like chocolate pudding but richer? Do you tell your guests what it is before they try it? :-)
DeleteHANK: It looks like normal dark brown pudding. Yes, the fat in the avocado gives the mousse a richer taste. And no, I don't tell them about the avocado.
DeleteSounds amazing Grace
DeleteUntil later, right? Xxxx
DeleteThank you Roberta for the greens and the colours of the gardens on this very cold and gray day.
ReplyDeleteI love every dessert with dates: squares, cookies and cakes, squares being my favourites.
I can’t say that I have a standby easy Sunday dessert, it depends on my mood.
Can I suggest this topping for your cake ? 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of coconut, 2 table spoons of milk and 5 table spoons of butter. You put everything in a little pan and simmer for 5 minutes over low heat stirring the mixture. You can use it hot or warm.
It is the topping of my Queen Elizabeth Cake that is also a dates cake.
Danielle
Danielle, date squares are my favorite, too, and the topping sounds amazing for this cake!
Deletethat topping sounds divine, almost a caramel right?
DeleteReds in Key West! Sounds like Key West better look out! Thanks for the garden pics--lovely! We have sunshine, but it's still February so evergreens and a few early crocuses are the only bits of color around. For an easy dessert, I might make a batch of one-bowl brownies--fudgy, not cake-y, add ice cream or whipped cream for toppers.
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious riot of color! It's such a contrast with the still-subtle winter tones here. Although yesterday I did see lots of daffodils open (including in my yard), and two flowering almonds in bloom! Only about a month early. We had frost last night, so I hope they didn't get zapped.
ReplyDeleteThe cake looks great, Roberta, and not overly sweet. Bet you could make the same cake with different fruit, too: apricots, figs, raisins, dried cherries.
My go-to easy dessert recipe is one I've been making for 45 years, microwave brownies. They take less than 15 minutes to make, and are rich and chocolatey and always a big hit.
DeleteOh, date cake! Yummy. I'm lazy so I'd use chopped (or at least pitted) dates. I have to try this with whipped cream.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the gorgeous pix of the Key West garden show. Like a breath of fresh air!
Oh my goodness, those garden pics!!!! Thank you for the vicarious pleasure, Lucy!
ReplyDeleteThose garden pictures are so beautiful Lucy. Do you have more information on the homes, the people, the garden group, etc
ReplyDeleteThat cake looks really yummy, Lucy! If I make it I will probably throw in a few nuts. Couldn't hurt, right?
ReplyDeleteNuts would work just fine!
DeleteHi from glorious Key West! It is indeed as beautiful as Lucy's garden photos. I left a gray, drizzly, 35 degree Dallas yesterday and today feel like I've arrived in paradise. I will take loads of pics and post week after next! Now, if I only had some of that date cake to go with my Key West Cuban coffee!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the pics Deborah!
DeleteThat cake sounds delicious! I’m trying to think what occasion in my life might call for it. I would definitely need to share it because it would otherwise be too tempting for me to eat the whole thing myself!
ReplyDeleteI rarely eat dessert, and I didn’t grow up with desserts. If my parents had people over for dinner, we might have dessert. We had dessert on the holidays, and there was always a chocolate cake for birthdays. Other than that, no dessert. Every week Mom did buy two boxes of cookies, which usually disappeared within a couple of days. (Five cookie-loving children, you know!)
DebRo
My mother didn't love dessert so we rarely had it either. John's family were dessert hounds so it's gotten into my blood!
DeleteWow! That cake looks yummy. Trying to think of a super easy supper dessert. Perhaps it would be the almond flour peanut butter cookies for me?
ReplyDeleteOn another note, these photos of the flowers, gardens and the outdoors are gorgeous!
Diana
Thanks Diana, those sound excellent!
DeleteMy go to easy recipe is Apple crumble. I don't add sugar to the apples and I use less in the topping because we are diabetic. I also used to make chocolate chip cookie bars. This is a recipe that I made up. I used to provide daycare in my home and I made chocolate chip cookies almost every day for the kids. One time I accidently put in two eggs instead of one, and I didn't have the ingredients to double the recipe. I put it in a 9 x 9 pan and baked it anyways. The kids loved it!
ReplyDeleteOh those kids were very lucky to have homemade cookies every day!
DeleteGoing by the handwriting, I think the original author of your recipe was lefthanded.
ReplyDeletethat's interesting, never occurred to me Libby!
DeleteI forgot to thank you for the beautiful photos! They did indeed lift my spirits. We haven’t really had any snow in my part of Connecticut but it’s been bold and gloomy.
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Yum!!! I love dates so I'm sure I'd enjoy this recipe. Thank you. Also, the flowers are gorgeous. It's been a very dreary winter here in AZ with a few random sunny 70 degree days so I am envious of your gorgeous weather.
ReplyDeleteWe have had the same winter in California!
DeleteLucy, thank you for all those gorgeous colors! It's a most needed infusion of beauty. At least the sun is shining here today, which makes a nice change. The date cake looks so delicious. I do love dates. Long ago I used to make date pinwheel cookies, but that was donkey's years ago. They were delicious though. For my birthday supper this past Friday, we went to a restaurant that I love, and one of the items I love most there is the appetizer of bacon wrapped dates. They have a maple, balsamic glaze. So good.
ReplyDeleteI don't really have a go-to Sunday dessert. I'm more of a cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Sundays. When I was growing up, there was an amazing bakery in town that made our local specialty of transparent pie. They made them in little pies, tart size, and in tin foil holders. So, we had those quite often. Of course, we had cake for birthdays and my mother's jam cake at Christmas. One thing that was so simple but for some reason I thought it was a great treat was chocolate pudding. We didn't have it a lot, so whenever my mother made some after supper, I loved it. Whipped cream to top it. And, it was just the mix out of the box. My mother was a wonderful cook, but this was one time she used a boxed start.
I can't wait to see the pictures of you, Lucy, and Debs and Hallie!
all those treats sound amazing Kathy! This reminds me that I forgot to take Debs to Firefly!
DeleteThe flowers in the blue feet are wonderful! Elisabeth
ReplyDelete