Orange Date Muffins are an amazing dessert, lunchbox or perfect teatime option!
Sometime back I saw lovely Anita doing a post on Muffin Mondays. Now if there is anything I like baking after the breads with yeast, it is muffins! so I checked with her about it and soon got a mail from Anuradha of Bakers Street on the details. And the recipe that was selected was my favourite too! Orange Date Muffins!
Anything which has zest has got to be good. I did a happy gig and as usual forgot about it till yesterday evening. I exchanged a couple of messages with her and promised to send her the pictures latest by today noon.
I got up to bake them early morning and sent her a picture around 10 am and forgot to post it on my blog (I must be getting old to forget so much right?) Anyway, thankfully I didn’t forget any of the ingredients and the muffins turned out yum.

Ojas had these in breakfast along with some milk and loved them so much that he has taken them to school too. And as these are whole wheat and with so less butter and sugar, I ate one just now with my evening tea too, guiltless indulgence.
This is the recipe as sent by Anuradha.
Orange Date Muffins:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon grated orange rind
- 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup chopped dates
- 2/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a 12 hole muffin tin with liners or grease and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a measuring jar or medium bowl, beat together the orange juice, buttermilk, egg and melted butter. Add egg mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Fold in the orange rind, dates and walnuts. Evenly divide the mixture among the 12 muffins cups. If you desire a topping then mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it on the top. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 to20 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool. Makes 12 regular-sized muffins. Source: _From a Baker’s Kitchen: Techniques and Recipes for Professional Quality Baking in the Home Kitchen

I did a couple of changes to the recipe though, one I made half the original recipe, so it gave me just 6 muffins. The second change I made was to replace brown sugar with honey. I didn’t have any brown sugar at home and instead of just going ahead and using plain white sugar I used about 1/4 cup of honey and as I was adding a liquid ingredient in place of sugar I used only 2tbsp of butter instead of what was mentioned in the recipe. Also I didn’t put any walnuts in it as I had dates stuffed with nuts which I used for making these.

To see the rest of the Muffins this Monday go here
You are right Mon. My God it must be very flavor some. Bookmarking it dear.
Hey! Glad you could bake with us for muffin monday! Your muffins look great. Honey is an excellent substitute! π
Yummm Yumm Yummmmmm.. My Mouth is watering already .. Everyone’s pulls of a food blog.. time for me to try something.. Diwali is coming.. shall try it out with Mom.. not that great when it comes to cooking food.. pampered child ;P
yumm yumm yumm yummy π
Dates stuffed with nuts? GREAT idea…must have turned out really well. Happy Muffin Monday π
P.S. Oh and I’ve totally sent An the photo and forgot to post on my blog…you are not alone π
Hi Monica! Welcome to Muffin Monday!
Love the photo with that tall glass of milk. They look delicious!
Welcome to Muffin Monday! great baking along with you!
Welcome to Muffin Monday! So glad you liked these, I loved them, too!
A ha! What good fun! It will be amazing baking with you every Monday. Thanks so much for the kind mention Monika. The muffins look their scrummy best!
thanks radhika it was indeed
π thanks AN
LOL do try it if u get time
thanks bikram π
happy muffin monday to u too… thanks for visiting π
ha ha ha *Hi-five*
thank u so mich aimee… glad for the visit
thanks elena the feeling is mutual π
π thanks for visiting
yes looking forward to baking along
They look super moist! I like your plates too π
thanks bianca and yeah thanks I had a set of 6 only 2 are left now π
Just tried it out… and has come out very nice !
Monika ur my inspiration to bake! i have fallen in love wit cupcakes… π getting my otg soon! π