Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bring your water to a boil. If you’d like to try some date-earl gray tea as well, add an extra cup of boiling water (it was actually quite delicious!)

Remove the pits from your dates if you haven’t already. Roughly chop your dates, and add them to a heat-proof container. Pour the boiling water over your dates, and add your tea bags. Let the tea steep for 5 minutes, then remove your tea bags. Remove your tea to drink if you added some extra, leaving only a ½ cup of hot water to submerge the dates. Add your 1 tbsp of baking soda, and mix it in with the dates (the mixture should start to foam). Let sit for another 5 minutes.

While still warm, blend your date mixture with an immersion blender, and set aside to cool to room temperature. In a large mixing bowl, add ⅔ cup of softened butter. Mix with a hand mixer until the butter is smooth & spread around the bottom of the bowl. Add your brown sugar, and mix once more until the butter & sugar are homogeneous, and have increased in volume (~2 minutes). Each time you mix in a new ingredient, be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. One at a time, add your eggs and mix them in on low speed (don’t mix too aggressively!) Wait until the first egg is well incorporated before adding the second one. Add your milk, molasses, and vanilla extract to the bowl, and mix once more to combine.