This is a simple muffin recipe, that I've adapted by adding dates. The dates caramelize slightly when cooked, giving these muffins an extra boost of flavor and texture.
Dates pair extremely well with lemons and oranges. In this case, I've used lemon zest, which imparts a beautiful flavor that makes this recipe unique.
Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups of plain flour, maida 1/3 cup of granulated sugar 2 tsps of baking powder 2 eggs 3/4 cup of milk 1/2 tsp of salt 4 tbsps of olive oil or melted butter 1 tsp of vanilla essence lemon zest (the zest of one entire lemon) 1 cup of dates
Method:
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius
Since I used fresh dates from my tree, I softened the dates by putting them in a pan and adding 1 cup of water. Put the pan on the stove and let it cook for about 5 mins on a medium heat, just till the dates have softened. This process doesn't take very long (If your dates are store bought and already soft enough, you can avoid this process). Remove the softened dates and throw out the excess water. Then, chop them up into small pieces.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs, then add the butter or oil, milk, vanilla essence and lemon zest.
Add the wet ingredients slowly into the flour bowl, folding the batter with a spoon as you go along. The batter needs to just be incorporated and not smooth. Fold in the dates.
Grease a muffin tin with butter or line it with muffin paper cups.
Spoon the batter about 3/4 way up the height of the muffin cup, leaving room to rise.
Bake for 20-25 mins. Remove from the oven, once the muffins have risen and have a nice colour and are firm in the middle.
Leave to cook in the muffin tray for 5 mins, before removing and letting it cool completely on a wire rack.
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