Chocolate date muffins

This month's challenge from We Should Cocoa is to bake something with chocolate, but not containing sugar i.e.get sweetness from another source. I decided I wanted to make some muffins, as I'd found a sugar-free recipe in a leaflet from a supermarket.

So many sugar- free recipes taste, well, sugar-free! Some years ago I'd experimented with various non-sugar sweeteners, when my Mum wasn't allowed sugar, but loved cake. I found then that pureed dates were the most effective sweetener. They're easy to prepare and find, and compared to other dried fruits I'd tried as sweeteners, they didn't overwhelm the flavour of the cakes. They're healthy too - good source of fibre, minerals and vitamins! This muffin recipe used dates, so had to try it.

250g plain flour [can use sr flour and leave out the baking powder, but still use the bicarb.]

2 tspns baking powder

1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda

3 tbspn cocoa powder (add another spoonful if you’d like them very chocolatey)
2 eggs

150g dried dates
90ml sunflower or corn oil

1 tspn vanilla essence
about 100ml milk
150ml water to cook the dates

Preheat oven 200C/gas 6
Grease a 12 hole muffin tin.

Put dates in a small pan, along with 150 ml of water and boil gently.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa.
In another bowl, beat eggs with a fork. Add milk, vanilla and oil.
Take dates off heat, and blend to form a smooth paste. Add them to wet ingredients.
Pour all of wet mixture into dry. Stir until just combined – the batter will look lumpy. The mixture should drop easily off the spoon. If it doesn’t, add a little more milk.
Spoon into tin. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. If the tops spring back when pressed they are ready. Leave them to cool for around 5 minutes - this makes it easier to take them out from the tins.

My plate is a Christmas present from a friend, who knows I love china. I love its colours.

The muffins were good, but OH thought they were rather dry, so maybe I should have added some more milk. The original recipe said 75- 150 ml, which was rather confusing.  The sweetness was just right, for me anyway.
The recipe suggested adding chopped walnuts or chocolate chips to the mixture, so there are variations to try. It's a denser texture than my normal muffins, but is a good recipe for a sugar free one and I'll make again.

We Should Cocoa is a monthly baking challenge hosted alternately by Choclette of Chocolate Log blog and Chele of Chocolate Teapot blog, and sometimes by guest hosts. The challenge is to bake something with chocolate and an extra ingredient chosen monthly by them. January's challenge is to bake something using an alternative to sugar. This month it's Choclette's turn to host the challenge.Have a look here for further details.