Empress, you home?

[eleny]

I've been thinking of those Chock Full of Nuts sandwiches and got a small brick of cream cheese and a sack of shelled walnuts to whip together to make the spread for raisin bread sandwiches. Do you think they used to put sugar in the spread? Anything else you can think of to add?

I recall that the bread seemed to be what added sweetness and not the cream cheese. But it's been so long ago that I've had this.

[NMDemDist2]

1. I'm not the tEoA but is this the recipe?

(makes 2 sandwiches)
4 slices raisin bread
4 oz low fat cream cheese
1 / 4 cup toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup watercress leaves
1. Spread cheese on bottom 2 slices bread.
2. Scatter evenly with nuts and cream cheese. Top with remaining bread.
3. Slice each sandwich in half on the diagonal and savor this old time sandwich that was served for many years at the Chock Full of Nuts counter store across the street from Macy's Herald Square in NYC to nourish hungry shoppers. It's a classic.

Nutrition Information
Serving Size: 1 Sandwich
Calories: 406
Carbs: 31grams
Fat: 25 grams
Protein: 12grams

http://www.diabetesnet.com/cyber_kitchen/issue16.php#Nuts

[eleny]

Hmmm... toasted walnuts

The sandwich was just raisin bread with a cream cheese filling. The filling has finely chopped walnuts in it. I never thought to toast the nuts but that would make the flavor really good.

I'm glad I didn't whip it up as soon as I got home from shopping. Thanks! :hi:

[The empressof all]

2. Yes it was the bread

I believe they used Thomas Date Nut Bread which was rich and moist. Not sugary sweet but Datey Sweet. They stopped making it for the 12 month market years ago but you use to get it in December for Christmas. I always bought a half a dozen loaves as it kept well in the freezer. I think it's been about 5 years now that they discontinued it entirely. I have never found a recipe that duplicates it. Most of the recipes I've tried come out more like Banana Bread and that's not right. I've tried the one you can get in a can but that's not right either...not sweet enough. The Thomas was sweet and the bread was dense, full of walnuts and so moist you could wad it up into little dense balls.

Honestly when we made the sandwiches at home we just used regular Cream Cheese. When I was growing up there was a brand in NJ called Breakstone that made cream cheese in tubs--(like butter) It was twice as airy (IMO) than the whipped Philadelphia Cream Cheese I get out here in WA.

I'm thinking you might want to whip the cream cheese with some Turbano Sugar or even Sugar in the Raw. I think it would be nicer than using regular sugar and my even give it a little crunch --I might even consider candying the walnuts instead of sweetening the cream cheese too much...

But alas...The magic in that sandwich was in the bread. Every once in a while I'll get a bug up my butt about it and fire off an e-mail to Thomas and tell them how upset I am that it's gone. I do that every year with Ben and Jerry too now that they got rid of my favorite flavor Holiday Ice Cream Festivis.

Someday someone will create the perfect copycat for that bread. They better hurry though...I think those of us that remember it won't be around forever.

[eleny]

3. I loved that Thomas's bread

It was so moist and all you really needed was some plain cream cheese.

I know what you mean about the bread in the can not being sweet enough. I like it but you're right, not the one for this combo.

Being form NY I remember Breakstone. Very good products.

I've got some raw, organic sugar and will add a tweak of it to the cheese and toast the walnuts first as suggested in the recipe Shannon posted above.

One more thing about Thomas's date nut bread. My mom and I were probably addicted to the stuff. I can remember us coming home from shopping and taking it out first thing while she put on a pot of coffee. We'd sit there and treat ourselves to a snack. It was so moist you had to peel a slice off the pre-sliced loaf. What a good memory. They have to be crazy to have quit making it. I'll write to them, too.

Thanks, e! :hi:

[The empressof all]

5. Yes, yes....

I remember it to be really sticky and you had to peel the paper off of it. I remember scraping the paper with a butter knife or even my fingernail to get that thin layer left on the paper. It was Amazing.

We're not alone...There are lots of us who still long for it.

[The empressof all]

4. I just found a recipe I haven't ever tried for the bread

1 C dates cut in pieces 3/4 C boiling water
3/4 C brown sugar 1 tsp vanilla
1 egg 1 1/2 C regular flour
1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda
1/2 C walnuts - broken
Sprinkle dates with baking soda & pour boiling water over them. Let stand until cool.
Beat egg, add sugar & vanilla gradually.
Combine w/date mixture
Add sifted dry ingredients & nuts & beat until mixed.
Pour in a buttered loaf pan & bake in slow oven (250-300 degrees) for one hour until firm & brown. Let stand one day before cutting.

This looks "different". I googled and found it on A Chow Hound board discussion about the bread but the poster really didn't talk about how it compared to Thomas.

[eleny]

7. I can see these ingredients turning out like Thomas's

It all depends on how moist the results. You know how moist fruit cake can be. Thomas's date nut bread is like that and maybe even more.

I just remembered something! Several years ago I got a date-nut cake from this monastery.
http://www.hermitagebigsur.com/fruitcake.asp
It has just the same moist texture we're talking about. It's dipped in a grape brandy and lasted in the fridge for months. It's fabulous.

Here's another recipe someone developed to try to figure out Thomas's secret.
http://littlecomptonmornings.blogspot.com/2007/12/dates-gooey-delight.html
According to this author, using a pound of dates is one of the secrets.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Sweet lord deliver me...........

I haven't thought of that Date Nut bread in YEARS!!!!! We used to get it all the time - in NE Pennsylvania - and the only dairy products I knew were - and still are - Breakstone's. Their sour cream is still the best, and their cream cheese beats all the others, hands down. Their sweet butter is what I use on my toast every morning, and it's still in those wax-coated cardboard cartons.

I remember those sandwiches, but I just thought they were cream cheese and nuts. I don't even remember them as walnuts, but, man, this is going back - 'way back.

I went to school in Philadelphia, where we had a LInton's on Broad Street, about fifteen blocks north of City Hall. Their version of Automat was to have a conveyor belt running along the back of the counter where everyone sat. All the food came out of the kitchen on that conveyor belt, and if your waitress didn't grab your order, you did.

The salmon croquettes were the most obscene thing every created.

[The empressof all]

12. Come on T La B

Go to NY this weekend and get us some....Otherwise I might have to Bake 30 loaves to get it right and my diet will go down the drain....

[eleny]

14. I'm beginning to think that their date nut bread may not be cost effective for them

These days, getting the moisture just right like a fruit cake might make it too pricey. :(

[Tangerine LaBamba]

15. I can't do it this weekend,

because I'm considering putting my name in the hopper for consideration as Commerce Secretary - I know shorthand, so I think I'm a natural.

But, go ahead and bake, empress. Do it. No one will ever do it better.

I'll PM you my mailing address, and promise you a well-thought-out critique of each and every loaf.

I know you can do it. I have faith, empress, and I promise to FedEx you all the Breakstone's you want.

[The empressof all]

6. OMG---OMG Because you got me obsessed with this again LOOK

Chockful of Nuts still has the sandwiches at some of their locations!

http://www.chockfullonuts.com/cafe/products.asp


Shoot...Now I have to plan a trip to NY. White Castles and Date Nut Bread....

I wonder if they'll ship me their bread? I guess they didn't use Thomas (which was the Best) but theirs was really really good too.

[eleny]

8. Aaaagh!

And no matter how many times I try clicking on that sandwich, it won't open in a new window jumbo sized! :rofl:

[eleny]

9. P.S. I just sent them an email...

Asking them where I can get it mail order. And of course, being the date nut whore that I am, I let them know theirs is the best anywhere. A little schmaltz couldn't hurt.

[The empressof all]

10. But that picture doesn't look like Thomas bread

The Thomas bread was really dark...almost black. I bet they put some molasses and cocoa in it. I wish I were able to spare the calories and start playing around again with a recipe. I'm probably still carrying the very same pounds those sandwiches put on me 30 years ago. I really must resist.

Do you think we could get some NYC DU'ers to Overnight us some sammies on Ice?

[eleny]

13. Heh...heh... sammies on ice!