Almond Date Muffins

I have had the desire to bake more lately - not exactly sure why that is, but now that I want to bake, I have in the forefront of my mind that I have to make it as healthy as possible for Grumpy's sake.  Its not fair to have treats around the house that he can't have too.  The one thing I know is carbs have to be controlled for him and when he eats carbs, they should be the better for you ones!  I've switched to white whole wheat flour and just bought some whole wheat pastry flour thanks to the praise of it by my friend Katrina.  Now I'm going to want to experiment with that!  ha!  I have been cutting sugar by using half Splenda in place and in some instances, all Splenda.

I read that dates were a good food for diabetics to eat so decided to make these muffins, substitute some almond meal for flour, used brown sugar Splenda and added dates.  I also made these low fat by not using a lot of butter and going with egg whites instead of a whole egg.  These muffins were such a success that Grumpy "hoarded" them so he would have them for lunches throughout the week!

Almond Date Muffins
Makes 1 dozen muffins

Printable Recipe

1-½ cup whole-wheat flour
½ cup almond flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups Almond milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ cup Splenda brown sugar
2 tablespoons stick margarine or butter, melted
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 large egg whites
⅓ cup chopped dates

Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour and almond meal into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour mixture and the next 3 ingredients (flours through salt) in a medium bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine Almond milk (soured with the lemon juice), sugar, melted margarine, almond extract, and egg whites; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.  Fold in date pieces.

Scoop the batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups using an ice cream scoop (this give the perfect portion for these muffins); Bake at 375° for 17-20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire rack.