Please do not think I am complaining about getting mail. I love love love and am most grateful for having mail come to us, and for having the shipping options we enjoy and rely on. Love it, and most grateful. But. Sometimes, our mail arrives a teensy bit beat up. Like last week, we received a box and everything inside was C O A T E D in peanut butter. Coated. I was a little grumpy. And then, I got inspired. Now I have good incentive to bake (a LOT). See, I am not going to throw away the precious remains; sure, I had to throw away what had spilled out, but the rest was fair game. Normally, peanut butter is for toast and sandwiches, and I am not going to bake with it. But this? Fair game.
Admittedly, Americans have a unique affinity to peanut butter; most other nationalities do not consume it in the quantities that we might. Here I am going to convince you that you, too, should use some of your precious peanut butter because this loaf tasty, fiber-filled, and really easy to throw together. We love it with dark chips; maybe your family would like milk chocolate better? If you use sweeter chips, consider reducing the sugar in the loaf so as not to end up with something too sweet.
Hope you try it!
Peanut Butter, Date & Chocolate Chip Loaf
Yield: two 8 x 4 loaves
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups (10 oz) peanut butter
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 2/3 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup finely chopped dates (tossed with 1 T flour if sticking together)
Directions
Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8x4 pans with foil; set aside. Alternately, you can lightly grease the pans with nonstick spray. (I like to use foil because I can then immediately wrap up the second loaf and slide it into the freezer for an easy breakfast option.
Mix together dry ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside.
In a large bowl, mix peanut butter and eggs, stirring with a whisk until combined. Add sugar, whisking well. Slowly, whisk in milk, stirring while adding to keep the mixture well combined. Add vanilla, stirring well.
Using a spatula, stirring the dry ingredients until mostly combined. Add the chocolate, dates, continuing to stir until completely combined.
Scrape into greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour, or until lightly browned on top.
Set pans on rack to cool 15 minutes, and the. Remove from pans, and cool completely before enjoying.
Enjoy!