Date & Walnut Muffins
A delicious breakfast treat filled with sweet dates and crunchy, toasty walnuts. Great for lunchboxes too
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Ingredients
- ⅔ Cup Chopped Walnuts (Plus more for sprinkling on top, approx. ⅓ cup, optional)
- 184 Grams Dates, pitted*
- ⅔ Cup Milk
- ¾ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ Cup Brown Sugar
- ⅓ Cup Unsalted Butter (approx. 76g) Softened to room temperature
- 2 Large Eggs
- 1⅛ Cup All-Purpose Flour (1 Cup + 2 Tbsp)
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners or grease with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside
- Chop the walnuts and set aside. Now chop the dates. Roughly chop/ halve or quarter ⅔ of the dates and finely chop the other ⅓. Place the ⅓ finely chopped dates in a bowl with the 2 Tbsp (⅛ cup) flour, mix through and set aside**
- In a small saucepan on the stove, combine the roughly chopped ⅔ dates, milk, baking soda and vanilla extract. Heat gently and let simmer for around 5 - 10 minutes until the dates soften
- Once the dates have softened, use a hand/stick blender (or a normal blender) to blend the date and milk mixture until the dates are pureed (it does not have to be super smooth). Set aside to cool slightly
- In the meantime, place the chopped ⅔ cup walnuts on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for around 5 minutes. Set aside to cool
- In a medium bowl cream together brown sugar and butter using a hand mixer until smooth (or use your stand mixer). Add eggs and mix well
- Add the slightly cooled milk and date mixture while whisking or stirring until combined
- Then sieve in the 1 Cup flour, baking powder and salt and begin mixing through. Just before all the flour is incorporated into the wet ingredients, add the roasted walnuts and the left over date and flour mixture. Take care not to over-mix
- Fill the prepared muffin tins evenly, about two-thirds of the way full. Sprinkle with the chopped un-roasted ⅓ cup of additional walnuts if you wish (these must not be roasted as they will cook while exposed to the heat during baking)
- Bake for 16-18 minutes until golden and a cake tester or skewer inserted in center comes out clean
- Leave to cool in the muffin tins for around 5 - 10 minutes. Then remove and let cool further on a wire cooling rack
Notes
*I use dried dates for this recipe. You can use fresh, just reduce the cooking time in the milk
**I like to have small pieces of dates in the muffins for added texture. This is optional though. If you want it smoother, add all the dates to the milk and puree. In this case just remember to add the extra 2 Tbsp of flour in with the dry ingredients
Tossing the dates in flour helps then to not stick together in clumps and distribute more evenly through the muffins
The nuts sprinkled on top are optional. If doing this, remember NOT to toast them with the nuts that you incorporate in the batter as these will have enough time to roast during baking. If pre-toasted they will overcook might burn
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