Chocolate Chip Date Muffins

These muffins are the perfect example of an accident gone right! I totally forgot the sugar in my Chocolate Chip Date Muffins, but thankfully the @nakednutrition Naked Shake Peanut Butter Blueberry along with the chocolate and fruit more than made up for it! Not super sweet, they are a fantastic breakfast item (yes, chocolate is a breakfast food!)

 

One of my classic sayings as a teacher was always "I can't expect perfection because I am not perfect". It is a pretty good life lesson to live by, if I'm being honest! In the kitchen, I kind of pride myself in turning mistakes into (at least) tasty treats, if the mistake itself isn't to my satisfaction. Then again, sometimes I'll make an error (usually while distracted - I have an infamous "shiny" complex) and the result is exactly what I was going for!

 

This was definitely the case with these muffins - I had planned to make a batch of chocolate chip and date muffins for N to take home a few weeks ago, but in the mist of talking with him, watching clips of CSI on the TV and cleaning as I went, I wound up forgetting all the sugar listed in the original recipe until they were in the oven. As the time ticked by, I fretted - would they be bland? Hard as rocks? Worthy only as slingshot ammunition? Sugar, after all, doesn't only provide sweetness but a certain hygroscopic bonus that keeps baked goods moist. In the middle of my apologizing profusely, N reached over and grabbed a freshly cooled muffin, took a bite and went, "if you left out the sugar, do it again. These are good!" Okay then. Point taken! 

Thinking back, I figured it was the sweetness from the Naked Shake Peanut Butter Blueberry powder, the dates and the chocolate that gave the muffins enough of an edge to not be "bland". The oats do need a little bit of time to soak up the liquid so I noted that in the directions. If you don't have the specific shake powder, any vanilla protein shake powder or a peanut butter protein shake powder would work perfectly fine. Just don't use an unflavoured, unsweetened one!

Chocolate Chip Date Muffins

Adapted from Little Sweet Baker

Makes 12 

½ cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (plus a little more if needed)

4 scoops Naked Shake Peanut Butter Blueberry powder

½ tsp salt 
1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp butter flavour (optional)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped dates

raw sugar, to sprinkle (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 425°F and grease a muffin tin.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, buttermilk, Naked Shake, salt, vanilla and butter flavour.
3. Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, chocolate and dates, stirring just to combine.  Let stand 5 minutes.
   
4. Scoop into the muffin tins, sprinkle with raw sugar and bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue to bake for another 12 minutes, they will test done.
5. Turn out immediately onto wire racks and cool.