Muffins give your day a boost

I love a good muffin and I enjoy playing with new variations in my kitchen. My kids stick to banana chocolate chip, but Pete and I love almost any muffin variety. As an optimist, I’m always trying to get my kids to fall in love with new variations.

These Almond and Date Muffins are the perfect morning or midafternoon snack. They’re high in fibre, healthy fats, and the added protein (from the protein powder and the chia seeds) will give you a boost and help you feel full longer. If you don’t like dates, try adding another dried fruit – or even fresh fruit. If you like nuts in your muffins, be sure to stir some in at the end. Muffins are pretty flexible.

It’s a great time to get maple syrup so make sure you get yours locally, especially this time of year. I buy mine from one of the vendors at the Farmer’s Market, but you can also get locally made syrup at The Main Ingredient and JoAnn’s Health Food Store. I don’t use much in this recipe because the muffin also relies on the sweetness of the medjool dates. They’re one of my favourite sweet treats.

Some people who are on a glutenfree diet can’t tolerate oats, even the certified gluten-free oats. If that’s the case for you, I would try brown rice flour instead. In addition, if you don’t have celiac disease, you could use regular oat flour in this recipe. Oats are commonly contaminated with gluten, which is why we stick to the certified gluten-free variety.

Oat, Almond and Date Muffins

½ cup almond flour (blanched is best)

1 cup certified gluten-free oat flour 1 tablespoon ground chia 2 tablespoons protein powder (we use plant-based protein powder) 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon sea salt ½ cup certified gluten-free oats

¾ cup unsweetened applesauce ¼ cup maple syrup 1/4 cup coconut oil, liquefied 1 tablespoon ground chia mixed with ¼ cup warm water (or 1 egg)

½ cup chopped and pitted dates

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line or grease muffin cups.

Combine almond flour, oat flour, ground chia, protein powder,

cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and oats in a medium-sized bowl.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large bowl, combine applesauce, maple syrup, coconut oil, and ground chia-warm water mixture.

Stir in dry ingredients, mixing well to combine.

Fold in dates. The muffin batter will thicken up because of the ground chia.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups (3/4 full). Bake in preheated oven for 20-23 minutes (10-12 minutes for mini muffins). Let cool in muffin pan for 3-4 minutes. Remove to wire rack and let cool completely.

Yield: 12 large muffins.