Kathy’s Buckwheat Date Muffins

Buckwheat muffins are my current favorite healthy snack. I like to add chopped dates, but you can substitute any fruit you like: raisins, currants, dried cherries or cranberries… Hm, I’m thinking even chopped apples would work.

These muffins are gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. Depending on your tastes and dietary restrictions or freedoms, you can substitute other flours; you can use an egg instead of the flaxseed and water; you can use dairy milk; and you can use melted butter instead of the olive oil.

Flours: Oats are naturally gluten-free, as is buckwheat. Check your sources, or read the label: many times oats, especially, are processed in facilities that also process gluten ingredients. If you are gluten-sensitive, make sure your flours are indeed gluten-free. I have also made these with sweet white sorghum flour (also gluten-free), and they turned out well. Other gluten-free flour options: millet, coconut, almond, quinoa, and cassava.

These have a nice, chewy texture. You may substitute maple syrup for the coconut palm sugar; the dough will be a bit less stiff. Also, I haven’t tried it yet, but I think adding some molasses would be tasty. If you use liquid sweetener, add it to the “wet bowl” instead of the “dry bowl” ingredients.

Ingredients:

The “wet bowl:”

• 2 heaping tablespoons ground flaxseed (measure, then grind) mixed with 3 tablespoons water
• 3/4 cup non-dairy milk (oat, rice, coconut, almond, soy…)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup chopped dates

The “dry bowl:”

• 1 1/4 cups oat flour
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/3 cup coconut palm sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pink himalayan salt
• however much cinnamon and nutmeg you like

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.
In a small bowl, add ground flax seed (and the water), milk, oil, and dates. Whisk together to mix completely.
In a medium-size bowl, add flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk any lumps out.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients; mix together just until moistened. (This is a stiff batter.)
Divide batter between 12 muffin cups.
Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

These freeze really well.