Egyptian Fig and Date Bread

In researching more about Egyptian food as I am glued to Al Jezeera on line I came across this Fig and Date bread recipe on touregypt.net

The recipe reminds me of a date bread that my grandmother used to make.  In glancing over the recipe I would suggest that you could use all dates if you didn't have any figs and also to use half orange juice and half water (instead of just water) in addition to the grated peel of one orange.  Pecan could be substituted for Walnuts as could Almonds. 

This is the kind of bread that would be best served with a nice slathering of room temperature butter!

Fig and Date Bread, suitable for the Suhoor, the before sunrise meal of Ramadan.

Ingredients

1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup chopped dried figs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
  
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter an 8x4 inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the dates, figs, butter and baking soda. Pour in the boiling water, stir well and let stand for 15 minutes.

Beat the sugar, walnuts and eggs into the date mixture. Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the date mixture just until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.