Date & Walnut Muffins

To truly savor something, there is a strategy. One must eat slow, enjoying each and every little bite. Savoring involves the smell, the look, the feel, and the atmosphere. One must focus on only the piece of art that they are eating when they are eating" Jillian E. Pierce

As I opened the fridge yesterday morning, my eyes fell on the 2 packets of dates that Mug had bought on his travel to the ME. I had to use them !! The idea of adding it to cereal not appealing, I chose to bake something with it. The mind went "Cookies.. Bread.. Bars.. Cake.. Oh wait.. I can use my new silicon muffin pan and make some muffins". As I logged in to check out some recipes, my blogger dashboard screamed to me "Date Walnut Muffins posted by M D at Veg Bowl! - 3 days ago" Oo la... Mallika's pics and recipe tempted me so much I couldn't wait more than 2 hours to get started on these babies. 

Boy.. it couldn't have gotten easier than this. Just one whizz in a blender to make the dates milk and then all ingredients mixed in a bowl..And oh..the result was oh so satisfying.. The babies were perfect.. the colour, the texture, the aroma and the taste.. Despite not using eggs and butter in this recipe, the muffins were so awesome!!

As the second batch of muffins came out of the oven, I sat down for a cuppa coffee with these warm muffins, on a perfect evening where the rain God looked down on the city, I savoured every little bite and truly madly deeply fell in love with these babies. And yes, hublord too had a sinful smile as he revelled in them later in the evening.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup pitted dates, chopped

2 tbsp heap of walnuts
1 cup + 3 tbsps hot milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

2 pinches all spice powder (I had some homemade powder of cardamom, cinnamon, & nutmeg)

Pinch of salt

Makes 12 small muffins

Place dates and hot milk in a bowl and allow it to stand. Pulse this in a mixer till the dates combine with milk. Though the initial recipe had called for the dates to stand for 10 mins with the milk (so you can have some fruity pieces as you bite into the muffins), I landed up having mine soak for more than 2 hours. So when I put it in the mixer, it took just a whizz for 3-4 seconds for it to blend into a smooth paste.  Add the oil. Blend again for 2 seconds.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease / Line the cups of a muffin pan.
 

Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and all spice powder in a bowl. Mix them well.
 

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour in the dates & milk mixture and mix gently till they just combine. Add the chopped walnuts. Spoon mixture into muffin pan, bake for 25 minutes until done.

Remove from oven. Let it stay for 5 mins in the pan and then set to cool on a wire rack/grill tray.