Date-Nut Muffins

By Kath Dedon

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I love making goodies sweetened with pure maple syrup, maple sugar, or honey. Today I found a recipe for Date-Nut Muffins in The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book and decided to give them a try.

Of course, I did make a few substitutions. Instead of whole wheat pastry flour, I used King Arthur Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour, and I substituted quick oats for the wheat germ because that’s what I had on hand. I processed the oats in my mini food processor for a few seconds so they were more like wheat germ in texture. The original recipe uses light molasses; I used grade B pure maple syrup instead.

I’m quite pleased with the way these muffins turned out! They’re subtly sweet; they taste like muffins, not like cupcakes! The amount of dates and nuts provide the perfect amount of interesting tidbits. And, for anyone who cares, each muffin has only 110 calories!

Muffins are so quick and easy to make….I don’t know why I don’t make them more often. They’re a perfect addition to a quick breakfast and are excellent for snacking. I like to put them in a freezer bag and freeze them so I can pull them out for a quick treat when I want one.

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Date-Nut Muffins

(Adapted from a recipe in The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book)

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(print the recipe)

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Make 12 muffins

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1¼ cups white whole wheat flour (the weight is 150g for King Arthur flour)…………………….. …………..or 1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

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½ cup chopped dates

½ cup chopped nuts (I used pecans and almonds)

½ cup quick-cooking oats (processed until it resembles bran) or wheat germ or bran

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1 egg

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup (or light molasses)

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon lemon rind

¼ teaspoon allspice

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1. Preheat the oven to 375˚. Grease 12 muffin cups, or line them with cupcake papers.

2. Stir the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a medium bowl.

3. Stir in the dates, nuts, and oats.

4. Break the egg in a second medium bowl, and beat well.

5. Add the maple syrup, oil, buttermilk, lemon rind, and allspice to the egg and beat until everything is well-blended

6. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients; stir until just mixed.

7. Fill the muffin cups and bake for 18 – 20 minutes.

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A bit of butter never hurts….. 🙂