No tricks, all treats here. Using dates to naturally sweeten these muffins with roasted pumpkin, autumnal spices and sultanas. Delicious as they are, they also can be topped with orange mascarpone icing for the final touch.
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients
- 200g pitted dates
- 50ml boiling water
- 200g roasted pumpkin flesh
- 175g vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 100g sultanas
- 200g self raising flour
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
- 200g mascarpone
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/ 200°C convection
- In a jug add the dates and boiling water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before blending to a paste with the roasted pumpkin flesh.
- In a large mixing bowl add the oil, eggs and date pumpkin puree. Mix together before adding the orange zest and sultanas. Mix again to combine.
- Sieve the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into the wet mixture and fold in.
- Line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases. Evenly divide the batter between the 12 cases and bake for 25 minutes, or till a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean.
- Remove from the tray and allow to completely cool on a cooling rack.
- Just before serving mix the mascarpone and 1/2 the juice of and orange till smooth. Spoon onto the top of the muffin, and if desired decorate with more orange zest.
Option to freeze the muffins once they are cooled for up to 3 months.
Per muffin: 364kcal/ 24g fat/ 6.4g saturated fat/ 31g carbohydrates/ 2g fibre/ 5.2g protein