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National Date Nut Bread Day

Food · December 22

A day for date nut bread, the dark, moist quick bread made with chopped dates and walnuts, often served sliced with cream cheese.

National Date Nut Bread Day falls on Tuesday, December 22, 2026. That is 56 days away.

Date nut bread is a quick bread, which means it rises with baking soda or baking powder instead of yeast. Chopped dates and nuts, usually walnuts, go into a batter that bakes into a dense, dark loaf.

The dates do most of the work. Many recipes soak them in hot water first, often with the baking soda, so they soften and melt partway into the crumb. That is where the deep brown color and the moist, almost sticky texture come from. The walnuts add crunch and a slightly bitter edge that keeps all that sweetness in check.

It is a quiet sort of bread. It does not need frosting or a glaze, and it tends to taste better the day after baking, once the flavors have settled. Thin slices spread with cream cheese are the classic way to eat it, and some people toast a slice and add butter instead. It also travels well, which is why it has long turned up at bake sales, potlucks and on holiday cookie plates.

Some older versions were baked in round tins, coffee cans among them, which gave the loaf its cylinder shape and made for neat, coin-shaped slices.

If you bake one, let it cool completely before slicing. Warm date bread crumbles under the knife, and patience gives you clean slices.

Ways to celebrate

• Bake a loaf using soaked, chopped dates and walnuts.
• Try a slice spread with cream cheese.
• Toast a day-old slice and add a little butter.
• Share a loaf with a neighbor or coworker.
• Ask an older relative if they have a family recipe.

Dates

All national days on December 22

Also on December 22

• National Cookie Exchange Day

Categories: Food days