Dates (khormah) are a common treat served with black tea in the Persian culture. I like to consider myself American-Iraian, since my husband is Persian, and his family has taught me so much about their wonderful culture. When I found this recipe in the Tartine cookbook, I knew I had to make it.
Tartine is an amazing bakery in San Francisco. There is constantly a line wrapping around the building, but it is worth the wait for the most amazing baked goods you will ever try.
Majool dates are meaty and juicy and just perfect for this recipe. I have been wanting to making this tea cake for months, but every time I go to make it, I am missing a key ingredient. This weekend I had enough bananas and dates to make this delicious breakfast bread. I even added Cardamom, to give it have a Persian pastry flair. It turned out to be a perfect blend of banana bread and Persian pastry…a win-win combination.
- 1Cup + 4 Tbsp All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Cardamom
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 3 Very ripe Bananas
- 2 Large eggs
- ½ tsp Salt
- 6 Tbsp Unsalted butter (room temp)
- 1 cup Walnet (lightly toasted and coarsely chopped)
- 1¾ cup Dates (pitted/coarsely chopped)
- 1 Banana
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- Preheat oven to 325
- Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, cardamom, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir to mix. Set aside
- Peel three of the bananas and place in another mixing bowl.
- Mash with fork until you have a chunky puree.
- Add the eggs, vanilla and salt to the bananas. Stir to mix well. Set aside
- In a third mixing bowl, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light in color and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
- Slowly add the banana mixture and beat until incorporated. Scraping down the sides. Mix an additional 30 seconds to insure adequate incorporation.
- Using the rubber spatula, fold flour mixture into the banana puree.
- Fold in the dates and walnuts. Make sure all the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Transfer batter into the prepared loaf pan.
- Top batter with the last banana, cut lengthwise and placed cut side down.
- Sprinkle the top of the batter with sugar
- Bake about 1hr- 1:15 - or until cake tester comes out clean
is it three bananas or four bananas? you say to use 3 bananas in the ingredients, but then step 4. you say peel three of the bananas. then in step 12 you say to top with the last banana. a fourth one?
confused.