Molasses Date Oatmeal Muffins (Monday Muffins)

I started posting Monday Muffins when I realized I was accumulating a pile of muffin recipes and I ought to get them posted with some sort of regularity.  So on my old-fashioned paper calendar pages <gasp> I plotted out all the recipes I had in the can.  So to speak.
Some of these were easy to schedule.  Pink Beet and Horseradish muffins?  They go in February before Valentine's day.  Butternut Squash and Ham muffins?  They will go in the fall.  Creamy Banana and Dark Chocolate Chip muffins?  They can go up any time (and will appear in a month, if you're worried the link isn't yet live).
I'd originally scheduled a batch of Nutella and Zucchini muffins to appear here today.  They are the Matt Damon of muffins on the Jimmy Kimmel of this blog--they keep getting bumped!  It's a great recipe, but I've decided that most other people don't have bags of shredded zucchini in their freezer in late winter, and teasing you with the enchiladas was enough, so I've permanently moved Nutella and Zucchini muffins to the summertime.  You can see them here!
Why did I bump those muffins?  Because I could. not. wait. to share this recipe with you.  It's delicious!  I picked up a vat of dates at Costco during sled hockey practice, and after we enjoyed a bunch straight outta out of the container I started thinking about cooking with them.  For my first attempt, I chopped up the dates, ate a few, chopped a bit more . . . and decided that they were so sweet I didn't need to use sugar.  I added extra buttermilk, but it still wasn't quite right.  I knew for the next batch I would process the dates in the small cup of my smaller and cheaper version of this Food Processor, but I was hoping to do another muffin without refined white or brown sugar.  Then I hit on it--molasses!  Sweet, but not too sweet.  Adds a bit of iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium to go with the whole oats and whole wheat.  And the color pairs marvelously with the dates.

Because I thought of this at suppertime, I was able to soak the oats, dates, and buttermilk overnight.  I like soaking oats overnight, but even an hour helps break down the whole oats into great-for-baking consistency.
If you have fresh dates--eat some.  When you get sick of them, or if you have a package of dried out dates in the back of the pantry--make these muffins!

Molasses Date Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned, it's how I roll)

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk (how I make mine), plus an extra 1/4 cup if the batter is dry

1 cup chopped dates (fine chop is better than coarse I think)

1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil

1/4 cup (60 ml) molasses

1 egg

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk.  Add dates if they're dry, or you really really want to toss them in the bowl now.  Stir to combine.  Set aside at least an hour or up to overnight (see NOTE below).  When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a regular 12 muffin tin with oil spray.  Add the oil, molasses, and egg to the bowl and stir well.  Dump the dry ingredients on top and stir until just combined.  Scoop** into prepared pan.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until top springs back when you touch it gently.  Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a rack and cool completely.

Enjoy!  Matt Damon Nutella and Zucchini muffins, we're sorry we ran out of time!

**My scoop holds 3 Tablespoons (1 ½ ounces) by volume, though the muffin batter is mounded in the scoop so I'm pretty sure I'm putting a good 3 ½ to 4 Tablespoons into each muffin well.  The muffin wells in my regular muffin pans each hold 3 ounces by volume.

NOTE:  If you like, prep the oats and buttermilk step a few days ahead of time and store in the fridge.

This post is linked up with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop at The Chicken Chick and What's Cookin' Wednesday at Buns In My Oven,  Taste and Tell Thursdays, What's In The Box at In Her Chucks, the Farm Girl Blog Fest at Let This Mind Be In You, and Strange But Good at Sprint 2 The Table.