Date and banana muffins, no added sugar came about because, after a cooking class, I had excessive dates and um...excessive squidgy bananas. So I baked. That was 2016. They are still a lunchbox favourite around here!

date and banana muffins in a snack box with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and blueberries, extra muffins on a wire rack

Great flavours

Dates and banana mini muffins, those two ingredients, they are like a match made in mini muffin heaven! If you haven't tried the combo before, trust me, you are missing out. These mini muffins contain no added sugar and are perfect for the lunchbox. They are sweet enough to feel indulgent, despite the lack of added sugar.

brown spotty bananas being held above date and banana muffins.

No cake liners

I used a silicone mini muffin pan for these because I really prefer my muffins to not need cupcake wrappers, especially for the lunchbox as that basically means rubbish that needs to be thrown out. And for the larger ones I used my RACO Aerolift muffin pan because it always works!

muffins, mini and large on a wire rack with a wooden spoon in front of them

How to blend

You need a food processor or a high powered blender to blend the dates. You can try a stick blender too if you have one.

dates and water after processing in the food processor, some chunks still visible

Kid approved

Now the kid test, Miss 10 loved these, they are her favourites at the moment. I've been making these date and banana muffins over and over again for lunchboxes ever since I made this recipe.

mini muffin being held in a hand above a wire rack of muffins

Ingredients:

2 bananas brown and ready to throw out!
1 egg
½ cup dates, soaked in ½ cup of hot water
2 cups self raising flour
½ cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Combine the dates and hot water.
Pour the dates and the water into a food processor and blitz until the consistency you want. We like some chunks in ours.
Mash the bananas, egg, coconut oil and vanilla paste together in a large bowl.
Add the flour and date mix to the bowl and mix well.
Spoon into mini muffin pans (makes 24) or normal muffin pans (makes 12).
Bake for 15-18 minutes (mini) or 20-25 minutes (normal size.

photo showing the steps for making the date and banana muffins

Top tips:

make sure you use brown bananas
soak the dates until the water turns cloudy and brown, usually about 5-10 minutes
if the mix is too dry add a tablespoon of water
the recipe makes 12 large muffins or 24 mini

Freezer friendly

They are freezer friendly and hold up really well on defrosting, which is so important if they are going to be a lunchbox item, because otherwise what are you going to do with 24 mini muffins?

date and banana muffins on a yellow wire rack

Looking for other no added sugar lunchbox treats?

or more ways to use brown bananas?