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Sandwich (Chop English walnut meats fine)
Chop English walnut meats fine, mix with an equal amount of chopped dates; moisten with a little whipped cream and place mixture between buttered crackers or thin slices of white bread.
A two-ingredient filling with cream as the only binder, so the proportions and the timing of assembly matter more than any technique.
- "English walnut"The ordinary walnut sold everywhere today (Juglans regia), as distinguished from the American black walnut, which was widely gathered in parts of the country at the time. Black walnut is far stronger and would overwhelm the dates; use the common tan-skinned walnut.
- DatesDates of the period were often sold whole and unpitted. Use pitted dates, and if they are hard, soak them briefly in hot water and pat dry before chopping or they will not blend with the nuts.
- ChoppingChop the dates and nuts separately, then combine. Dates gum up under a knife and will coat the walnuts in paste if worked together from the start.
- "A little whipped cream"Cream whipped to soft peaks, added a spoonful at a time until the mixture just holds together. More than that and the filling slumps out of the sandwich; the intent is a binder, not a mousse.
- Assemble lateWhipped cream weeps and the date sugar draws moisture, so these go soggy within an hour or two. Make them close to serving, or hold the filling covered in the refrigerator and spread at the last moment.
- Butter both facesButter -- The recipe calls for the crackers or bread to be buttered; butter here works as a seal against the wet filling as much as a seasoning. Have it soft enough to spread thin without tearing thin-cut bread.
- QuantityThe recipe gives no amounts. A cup each of chopped walnuts and dates, with two or three tablespoons of whipped cream, will fill something on the order of a dozen small tea-sized sandwiches, cut in triangles or fingers, depending how thickly it is spread.
This belongs to the era of the afternoon tea sandwich, when a hostess was expected to produce several kinds of small crustless sandwich. Date-and-nut fillings were a staple of the type, riding on the same wave that produced date-nut bread and the boxed pressed dates then arriving in American groceries, largely as Middle Eastern imports. The whipped cream in place of the more usual mayonnaise or cream cheese marks this as a sweet sandwich meant for the tea table or a lunch dessert course rather than a savory course — a category that has largely disappeared, though the same mixture survives as a filling for cookies and quick breads.