Coffee Date Walnut Bread with Coffee Glaze

This Coffee Date Walnut Bread is the most rich and flavorful bread you’ll ever taste! Loaded with coffee-soaked dates, walnuts, and a ton of spice, this moist and rich Coffee Date Walnut Bread is bathed in a coffee glaze!

I know this Coffee Date Walnut Bread sounds like something your great-grandmother would offer you, and I know that dates and walnuts aren’t exactly trendy, but hear me out.

I’ll give you this though: it was inspired by a family recipe for Icebox cake, a recipe found in my great-grandmother’s recipe box. So, it is a bit old-fashioned, but it’s got so much going for it.

I don’t know why I called this Coffee Date Walnut Bread a bread? I don’t want to go back and change everything in the post, including all the behind-the-scenes type stuff, so we’ll just leave this as a ‘bread’ but it’s maybe closer to a loaf cake. It’s not quite cake, but a little more dessert-like than just quick bread. Okay, movin’ on.

It’s practically sticky. It’s soft and sticky, and it’s almost got an ooey-gooey quality to it.

This is in large part from combining hot coffee and chopped dates, and letting them stew and hang out. That’s how this recipe starts out, by soaking dates in hot coffee. The coffee breaks down the dates, and they become soft and sticky. The coffee gives deeper, richer flavor to the dates.

Then there’s walnuts. They add crunch and nuttiness. And let’s not forget spices. There’s no shortage of spice, and a few different ones come together in this bread, giving it lots of warmth and dimension.

Lastly, this Coffee Date Walnut Bread is bathed in a coffee glaze. Eep. The glaze is almost always the best part of a baked good, am I right?

There’s about 8,000 things happening in this Coffee Date Walnut Bread (aka, loaf cake) and they all equal richness and stickiness. It’s one of the most moist and flavorful breads I’ve ever tasted, and it’s on my short list of new favorite fall recipes. For breakfast, with coffee.

Coffee Date Walnut Bread with Coffee Glaze

Sarah @ The Gold Lining Girl

The most rich and flavorful bread you'll ever taste! Loaded with coffee-soaked dates, walnuts, and a ton of spice, this moist and rich bread is bathed in a coffee glaze!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 1 hr 5 mins

Total Time 1 hr 20 mins

Course Bread

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

  

For Coffee Date Walnut Bread:

• 2 1/2 c. chopped dates
• 1 1/2 c. fresh hot coffee
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. clove
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

For Coffee Glaze:

• 2 tbsp. coffee
• 1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules
• 3 tbsp. melted butter
• 2 c. powdered sugar

Instructions

 

For Coffee Date Walnut Bread:

• In a large bowl, combine dates, coffee, and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and salt.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together.
• Beat in egg and vanilla.
• Add flour mixture alternately with date mixture.
• Fold in walnuts.
• Pour batter into a greased or parchment paper-lined 9x5-inch loaf pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

For Coffee Glaze:

• In a small bowl, whisk together coffee, coffee granules, melted butter, and powdered sugar.
• If it needs thinned or thickened, add more coffee or powdered sugar, as needed, to achieve desired consistency.
• Drizzle glaze over cooled bread. Cut and serve.

Loosely adapted from Taste of Home, and an old family recipe.