Wednesday 12 September 2012

Spiced-Date Muffins!

Fall is edging its way in.  The nights are getting cool, the days are getting shorter... the leaves are even starting to turn!  Fall is an excellent season.

In honour of fall, and inspired by the long-time traditional pumpkin pie (and an overabundance of chopped, dried dates!), I decided it was time to get crackin' and whip up something warm and spicy to accompany our evening tea.  Nothing beats muffins, warm out of the oven and covered in agave or piled high with jam!  Mmmm Mmmm Goodliness!  But, I digress. 

These muffins were an adaptation of the Pumpkin Spice Muffin recipe so generously shared with us all by The Daily Dietribe (www.thedailydietribe.com/2011/03/pumpkin-spice-muffins-theyre-gluten.html).  I (obviously) chose to use a date puree instead of pumpkin.  I also decided to make these free of added sugars because of the natural sweetness of the dates; it is a decision I am glad I made ... BUT a tsp or so of molasses could be lovely.  I used millet flour instead of the sorghum because I thought that the flavour of the millet might compliment the earthy date flavour. I think I was right but, I am sure it would also work quite well with the suggested sorghum. 
















To make the date puree, I lightly boiled 2 cups of water with one heaping cup of chopped dates (these were, in fact, coated in rice flour).  I boiled this until it became thick and then pulsed it in a small food processor until completely smooth.  So easy!

The result was a really nice little muffin! The texture was soft but actually had a nice crumb-- something which is hard to achieve with gluten free baking, in my experience.  I could have happily increased the amount of spice with another tsp of cinnamon, a dash of clove, and maybe even a little anise or chilli for something saucy!  As it was, we enjoyed them with a cup of chai and some blueberry preserves.  Nom nom nom. 

Cuddle up, cozy down, and have some muffins!  xx

 
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