Banana Date Coffee Cake

I finally made something for the Blogger Secret Ingredient contest. Here’s my entry Sarah!

I don’t think I’ve ever had dates before. Turns out, I like them. Sweet and chewy, like molasses sort of. Well, since I had no experience with them, I didn’t have any specific plans of what to make, other than to definitely bake something. I also had on hand an over ripe banana, and I bought some walnuts yesterday, thinking I could make some sort of quick bread with them. I woke up Sunday morning thinking “Coffee cake sounds good.” We used to have Entemann’s coffee cake all the time on the weekends when I was younger, so it seemed like a perfect Sunday morning breakfast.

I also still have a lot of shredded coconut leftover from Christmas cookie baking, so I sprinkled that on too, because in my opinion, most things are improved with coconut. I love it. Because I intended to eat it for breakfast, this coffee cake does not have a lot of added sugar, instead I relied on the banana and dates to give it natural sweetness. I really enjoyed a piece of it with coffee this morning.

• 1/3 cup butter (I used Smart Balance)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 ripe banana
• 2 eggs
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped dates, divided
• ~1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• ~2 tablespoons shredded coconut

1. Cream together the butter and sugar.
2. Add in banana and mix until smooth.
3. Add in eggs, beating after each one.
4. Add in milk and extract and mix until smooth.
5. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and add to wet ingredients, mixing lightly until everything comes together.
6. Fold in ~2/3 cup chopped dates (more would be fine too).
7. Spread in a greased 9×9″ pan.
8. Sprinkle with remaining dates, walnuts and coconut.
9. Bake for ~25 minutes at 350 degrees.
10. Let cool slightly.
11. Enjoy!