It has been a little while since I baked, due to being sick and busy etc. This weekend, all my baking was performed with wholemeal flour and less sugar, to make everything healthier.

I made blueberry muffins, without chocolate or nuts, so Elora can take them to Childcare. The children were eager to taste these straight from the oven. They smelled fabulous!

I made choc chip and sultana muffins too. I made them too milky and I mixed them too much, so they cooked flat and smooth, rather than rising into peaks like my blueberry batch.

Just a little tip. Matthew asked for choc chip muffins. I felt a bit wrong only putting the chocolate in, so I ‘hid’ sultanas in the mixture. Once they are cooked, you can’t really tell the difference, and I felt good about adding fruit to the muffins so they can almost be healthy!

I made a date loaf. Hello! Awesome! Whilst I could resist the temptation of the muffins, I could not resist having a taste of this!

The pale parts of the loaf are like biscuits. The recipe is basically a biscuit recipe with a bunch of moist, sweet dates added. Mmmmmm. The outer layer of the loaf is crispy and the inside is moist and sweet. Monte thought I had added treacle to the recipe, but no. The dates are so sweet. You could use dark brown sugar for a sweeter version (not really necessary) and you could add nuts or chopped apricots as well.

Easy Yummy Date Loaf

Ingredients
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup boiled water
1tsp baking soda
50g butter
2/3 cup castor sugar
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
Soak 1 cup of chopped dates in 1/2 cup of hot water and 1 tsp of baking soda (get the kids to watch this: the soda fizzes and the water immediately turns a syrupy colour and the aroma is very sweet!)
Melt 50g butter and mix with 2/3 cup castor sugar.
Mix in 1 cup wholemeal flour
Add 1 egg and 1 tsp vanilla essence. Mix well.
Add the date mixture.
Mix ingredients well and pour into a loaf tin.
Bake in a moderate oven (180) for 40 minutes – or until a skewer comes out clean

Enjoy!