Fig, Date, and Walnut Muffins

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks. Muffins don’t really help much in the grand scheme of things, but they’re pretty good for some quick carby comfort. Waking up to one of these muffins, warmed up with a smear of peanut butter and raspberry preserves—well, it kinda makes the day seem a little brighter. They’re fluffy and nutty, with little chewy bursts of dates and figs and those tiny, crunchy fig seeds. The tops have a satisfying oatmeal “streusel” topping that adds yet another layer of texture.
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If your week/month/year has gotten off to a shaky start, join me in enjoying some muffin deliciousness. These muffins are healthy, hearty, and extremely delicious. Let’s bake.

You’ll need all your standard muffin ingredients, plus dates, dried figs (I used figlets, mostly because I find the name adorable), walnuts, and oats. Not shown: brown sugar and canola oil.

Combine your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl: white whole wheat flour (you can also use half all-purpose and half whole-wheat, or all whole wheat), sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Place your wet ingredients and mix-ins in a food processor: buttermilk, egg, canola oil, vanilla, dates, and figs. Pulse until well combined and your figs and dates are finely chopped. Now, you don’t have to use a food processor for this step; you can chop your dates and figs up finely by hand and add them and your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients, then mix.

Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. I used a mixer, but you don’t need one. Do not, however, overmix!

Scoop your batter into muffin cups. These muffins are big—the recipe makes 12 with twice as much batter as I usually fill my muffin cups with. This is a good thing! These are composed of 3 cookie-scoops-each.

Mix your brown sugar, oats, and walnuts with the melted butter. Confession: I totally forgot to add in the brown sugar. Go me! I just sprinkled it on the muffin tops just before baking—that works too, but I suggest mixing it in with the oat-and-walnut topping in the first place.

Sprinkle your topping equally over all of your muffins, then bake.

Glorious!

I love these muffins. They’re sweet, but not overly so. They’re savory enough to feel like a good, strong, fuel-filled breakfast with the nuts and oats and whole wheat base.

I absolutely love the flavor and low-key sweetness the figs and dates add to these muffins, but you can substitute your favorite dried fruits and nuts to make this recipe your own.

Fig, Date, and Walnut Muffins
Adapted from Cooking Light
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• 2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 1 1/4 cups chopped dried figs
• 3/4 cup chopped dried dates
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

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Preheat oven to 400°.
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Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture.
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Place buttermilk, figs, dates, oil, vanilla, and egg in a food processor; process until well blended. Add fig mixture to flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Divide batter evenly among 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
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Combine brown sugar, oats, walnuts, and butter in a small bowl; toss with a fork until combined. Sprinkle oat mixture evenly over muffins. Bake at 400° for 20 to 22 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes; remove muffins from pans, and cool completely on rack.