Vegan Peanut Butter Bread

for Afternoon Tea

When my son was in preschool, he and his classmates dictated instructions for their favorite meals to their teachers, and these were compiled into a cookbook complete with vegetable prints on the cover. This is one of my all-time favorite Mother’s Day gifts. Common favorites were spaghetti (bisketti), lasagna (sagana), peanut butter and jelly, chicken nuggets, and pizza. I love the fact that the teacher clearly recorded everything verbatim. Here are Ana’s instructions for chicken nuggets: “Put them in the oven for a few hours for three degrees. Eat them plain.” Michael’s sausage and bread sticks: “ First you put the sausage in the oven for six minutes.  Then you take it out.  Put it in the freezer for six minutes. Then you get the bread sticks. Cool them.” Adam’s pizza: “You don’t make pizza. You get it from the pizza man.” The concluding line is frequently “Then you eat.” or “Then you mush it together.” or “Then you take it out.” 

Fond memories are created around favorite food traditions and meals shared at the dinner table. Equally rewarding is the shared experience of pitching in together to make a recipe. Cooking with a child involves reading and following directions, measuring ingredients, and learning about fractions, but most importantly it is working together with a (hopefully) delicious end product.  And, if the final product does not meet expectations, we pivot and find a different recipe as I did for this quick bread.

The first recipe that I followed to make peanut butter quick bread included three eggs, was very dense, and was not cooked all the way through when I pulled it from the oven too soon.  I wound up discarding most of it.  Upon further research, I discovered a recipe from the Five Roses Flour Cook Book that was first published in 1915 in Canada. Apparently, this recipe has been quite a sensation online. It only requires five ingredients, and the peanut butter replaces both butter and the need for eggs. It has considerably more baking powder than the first recipe, therefore it is lighter. I decided to substitute almond milk for the cow’s milk to make a vegan bread, and I added a tablespoon of corn oil as my peanut butter was super dense. I also added the chopped dates.

Ingredients

2 cups unbleached white flour

1/4 cup sugar

4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 1/3 cup almond milk

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1T. corn oil

1 c. chopped dates

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the peanut butter, almond milk, and oil in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until smooth.  Add the dry ingredients and pulse again. Fold in the dates. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour.  I tested for doneness with a toothpick.

The version in the 1915 cookbook is mixed by hand, of course.  The bread is good toasted.

Thanks for reading and consider sharing the newsletter with a friend!

Vicki