Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
6 dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
3–4 apples (enough for 1 cup of unskinned, grated apple + 1 cup skinned apple chopped into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes)
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
Dry Ingredients
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 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
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. 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 2 large apples. Then peel the remaining apple(s) and chop it up 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. Measure out the honey, molasses, and vanilla. Pour the warm date and butter mixture over the top and mix well. Pour in the buttermilk and eggs. Mix until 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.
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 a cookie dough scoop to make this process a bit neater. I use folded muffin liners to make the muffins easier to remove after cooking (see here for specifics.)
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).
