Chocolate chip date cake

As a nod to my mental issues....I am posting a recipe while dealing with insomnia. Great...just great. I can't sleep, so I might as well try to be productive. The chocolate chip date cake is an absolute favorite of mine. It is my grandmother's recipe, she passed it on to my mother and my mother passed it on to me. It embodies one of my favorite things about baking (besides the fact that baking involves playing with dough) and that is the generational thing. Passing down recipes...memories associated with them. I cannot make this cake and not think of my wonderful, cranky, spunky, awesome grandmother (whom I still miss daily). I also cannot make this without thinking of my mom who is probably reading this and wondering how she raised such a strange baking freak. The passing down of recipes is a wonderful way to share a little bit of family history. Share a recipe with a family member today! It's a wonderful way to start a tradition.

On to the recipe:

Date Nut Chocolate Chip Cake:

1 ½ cup AP flour
¾ cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
¼ tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cup pitted and chopped dates
3 Tbsp Cocoa powder
1 ¼ cups boiling water
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- put dates, cocoa and baking soda in a small bowl, pour boiling water over and set aside.
-cream sugar, butter add salt. Add beaten eggs, mix to combine. Add date mixture, beat.
- Add flour and vanilla, pour into a greased 9x13x2” pan.
-Sprinkle the top with:
½ cup sugar
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup nuts ( I prefer pecans)
- Bake at 350 f 30-40 minutes, or until done.

This makes a lovely, reddish cocoa cake, moist with dates. If the dates are cut small enough, you will never know they are there. I love the dates..so I tend to cut mine a bit chunkier.

Enjoy!

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