1. Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare the dates.

Pit and chop the 6 dates. Place them in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of water and heat over low heat, stirring from time to time until they come to a simmer and then absorb nearly all of the water. They will naturally start to break apart as they cook so encourage that by mashing them with a spoon. (Note: in my experience, if they don’t break apart, that’s because you’re working with some very dried-out dates. If this is the case, they just need more help re-hydrating. Just add another 1/2 cup and cook until most of the water is gone.)

Then add your 1/2 cup of butter and cook over low heat until completely melted. Then turn off the heat.

2. Prepare the wet ingredients.

Grate your apples until you have 1 cup of shredded apple. No need to peel first. This usually takes me about 1 – 1.5 large apples. Don’t be tempted to add more than 1 cup. Then chop the remaining apple into 1/4-1/4 inch cubes until you have 1 cup of chopped apple. Set the cubes aside.

Put the grated apple and its juices into a mixing bowl. Add:

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

 Add the warm date and butter mixture. Mix until well combined.

3. Prepare the dry ingredients.

Measure all the dry ingredients (this does not include the chopped apple pieces set aside earlier) into a bowl together & whisk together:

• 1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/3 cup wheat bran
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients (not the reverse, or you’ll have two bowls that have to be washed in the sink!). Mix until just combined. Fold in the chopped apples.

Scoop the muffin batter into muffin liners. I like to use this cookie dough scoop to make this process a bit neater. I use these folded muffin liners to make the muffins easier to remove after cooking.

5. Bake the muffins for 22-25 minutes.

They’re done when they are not oozing and you can tap the top of the muffins and they give only slightly. Err on the side of underbaked for these (the bran can cause muffins to dry out easily).

6. Enjoy!