1. Preheat the oven to 400F.

2. Prepare the pumpkin date mixture.

In a saucepan, combine:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup dates, pitted and chopped (about 6 dates; note: if dates are very dried out, they will be difficult to chop, so you can just cut them in half to remove the pits, and then see my note below)

Cook over low heat until the mixture begins to gently simmer. Encourage the dates to break apart as they cook. If they aren’t breaking apart, that’s probably because they’re pretty dried out (this happens to dates we’ve had around in our kitchen for a while.) In that case, see my note on dried-out dates below.

After the dates have absorbed most of the water, go ahead and add:

• 1 15 oz. can pumpkin

Continue to cook on low heat for about 10 minutes stirring at regular intervals. The pumpkin will caramelize a little and the dates will continue to soften during this time. 

In the meantime, melt the 1/2 cup of butter and mix first with the 1/2 cup of honey and then the 1 tsp of vanilla extract. You can also prep the dry ingredients (step 4 below) if you have more time.

When the pumpkin date mixture is finished cooking, remove it from the heat to cool a bit.

Note if you are using very dried-out dates: Follow all the steps above, but after the pumpkin date mixture has cooled a bit, use an immersion blender to blend the dates into the pumpkin until you have a smooth paste. (Alternatively, you could do this with a normal blender. If you need more liquid to make it blend, add the honey butter mixture). This step is not necessary if you were able to chop your dates and they broke apart easily in the water.

3. Finish preparing the wet mixture.

Mix the pumpkin date mixture with the honey butter mixture and the 2 eggs until well combined.

4. Prepare the dry ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoon (yes, tablespoon, not teaspoon) cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/8 teaspoon allspice
• 3/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamon
• 1 teaspoon salt

5. Prepare to bake.

Fold the wet and dry ingredients together. Scoop the batter into a lined muffin tin. 

Optional: Top each muffin with a pinch of oats and about 1/2 teaspoon of honey. This will just make the muffins pretty and taste a bit sweeter on top. That said, my son objects to the oats for some unknown reason and always picks them off.

6. Bake at 400F for 18-20 minutes.

The muffins are done as soon as you can press on their tops and they push back at your finger a bit (they don’t ooze or sink down when you press gently). Don’t overcook or they will be dry!