There are some Amish recipes that make perfect sense: chicken corn soup, shoofly pie, cinnamon rolls, and so on. All of these recipes are sourced with ingredients right there on the homestead and have been perfected by Amish cooks for generations.
But there are other "Amish recipes" that have made their way into Amish culinary culture that really don’t make any sense. This is one of them: date pudding?

Date pudding is very popular as a dessert in many Amish communities, especially as the warm days of summer begin to unfold. Date pudding is a summer treat in many Amish settlements. It's an enduring Amish food mystery for me because dates (middle eastern) have no real roots or cultural culinary commonality with the Amish. But this dish turns up again and again at Amish events and in Amish cookbooks.
I don't care if you like dates or not or don't know whether you like dates, you'll like this pudding! It is so cool and refreshing, I think the homemade brown sugar sauce just knocks it out of the park. This isn't the best photo in the world,but I caught some being served at an Amish benefit supper last year and got this photo. I'm not even sure where they buy dates. I assume you can get them at most supermarkets, but I can't say that I've seen them or gone specifically looking for them.
The above photo was some date pudding that I saw at an Amish benefit auction. I really wanted more, but didn't want to make a glutton of myself. My guess is that many Amish bulk food stores probably carry dates, just for this pudding.
This refreshing Amish date pudding is often served as a dessert at weddings, benefit suppers, or after-church potlucks.
Dates are probably stocked in Amish bulk food stores. They aren't something I've specifically seen before, but I'm guessing that is a place you'll find them.
Butter, sugar, and eggs, now these are common ingredients that make this much more in line with a typical Amish dessert!
This incredible brown sugar sauce is what really makes this dessert! I am sure you could skip the dates and just use this sauce on whatever.
This is the whole confection before it heads into the oven.
Bake it for about 40-45 minutes until you have this solid "date brick" and then remove from the oven, chunk it up and cover with Cool Whip or homemade whipping cream. This is an amazing dessert.
🍮 Refreshing Amish Date Pudding
- 1 c. chopped dates
- 1 c. boiling water
- 1 ½ c. flour
- 1 c. chopped nuts
- ½ c. brown sugar
- 1 ½ c. white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tbsp. butter
- ½ tsp. salt
Brown Sugar Sauce:
1 ½ c. brown sugar
1 ½ c. boiling water
1 tbsp. butter
📋 Instructions
- Cream butter, sugar, and egg together.
- Put dates, soda, and boiling water together; let set until cool and mix everything together.
- Pour in greased 9×13 pan and pour brown sugar sauce over top.
- Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees.
- Cool, cut into chunks, mix with Cool Whip.
🍮 More Amish Pudding Recipes
Freeman Bontrager's Chocolate Pudding
🖨️ Full Recipe
Refreshing Amish Date Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates chopped
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tbsp. butter
- ½ tsp. salt
Instructions
- Cream butter, sugar, and egg together.
- Put dates, soda, and boiling water together; let set until cool and mix everything together.
- Pour in greased 9×13 pan and pour brown sugar sauce over top.
- Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool, cut into chunks, mix with Cool Whip.
GLORIA JOHNSON
I think this recipe sounds wonderful and I will give it a try. Thanks Kevin!
Carolyn T.
I've had my grandmother's date pudding recipe for years but have never made it. Think maybe I'd better try it after seeing your photo.
Bonnie
I'm just assuming the flour and salt get in the "cream" mixture? There's no mention of them..
Sally
Ours is a little different. No egg. More butter and it goes with the brown sugar liquid. Actually, the cake part is just flour, baking powder, sugar, dates pecans, and milk...like a quick fruit pie. Pour the brown sugar liquid over. the cake part navigates to the top. Whipped cream for this, not Cool Whip! Yum. My brother and I loved this growing up.
Kevin
Yum, sounds good, thanks for sharing, Sally, and welcome to Amish365! Date pudding is an amazing dessert, the Amish seem to gravitate towards it during the summer months more....very refreshing!