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Orange Date Muffins

Orange Date Muffins. A great old fashioned muffin recipe featuring great orange flavour, sweet dates, optional crunchy pecans and fragrant five spice powder.

Orange Date Muffins close up photo of muffins cooling on a wire rack

Orange Date Muffins.

Regular readers of Rock Recipes will have noticed that I have a little love affair going on with five spice powder. You will sometimes find it as Chinese Five Spice. 

Ingredients for date orange muffins

Ingredients for date orange muffins.

As the name suggests, it is simply a blend of five different spices. Variations occur but the most common combination is star anise, cloves, Szechuan pepper, cinnamon and ground fennel seeds.

Orange Date Muffins photo of one muffin on a white plate with coffee in the background

Orange Date Muffins, perfect for a coffee break.

While it is commonly used in Chinese cooking I love to use it in baking. I use it anywhere that you would use cinnamon or any blend of baking spices.

If you don’t have it or can’t find it, you can simply substitute 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves.

Orange Date Muffins wide shot of 3 muffins on a serving plate with glass of milk and an orange in background

Orange Date Muffins made without the paper liners.

I’ve used it in everything from these muffins to a scrumptious Apple Five Spice Tarte Tatin. It gives such a spicy fragrance and flavour to baked goods, you will love it.

Orange Date Muffins with an orange, dates and pecans in the background

Orange Date Muffins

Orange Date Muffins close up photo of one muffin split in half

Experiment yourself with this amazing spice blend, perhaps in this recipe for my favorite Apple Cinnamon Sticky Buns.

Wet ingredients mixed together

Wet ingredients mixed together.

Dry ingredients sifted together

Dry ingredients sifted together.

Fold batter until no lumps are visible

Fold batter until no lumps are visible

Fold in dates and pecans

Fold in dates and pecans.

Orange Date Muffins ready for the oven

Orange Date Muffins ready for the oven.



 Love a great muffin recipe? We’ve put together a collection of our Top 25 Fan Favourite Muffin Recipes. You may be surprised to see which delicious, wholesome muffin hit the #1 spot!

Best Muffin Recipes photo collage with title text for Pinterest

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Orange Date Muffins close up photo of muffins cooling on a wire rack
Yield: 12 large muffins

Orange Date Muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Orange Date Muffins. A great old fashioned muffin recipe featuring great orange flavour, sweet dates and fragrant five spice powder.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp five spice powder ( or 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon & 1/4 tsp cloves)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp finely minced orange zest
  • 1 cup dates, chopped
  • 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Stir together The flour, baking powder, baking soda, five spice powder and salt. Set aside.

Beat together the sugar, egg, orange juice, milk, oil vanilla extract and orange zest.

Fold dry ingredients into the wet mixture. When the dry ingredients are almost incorporated, add and fold in the dates and pecans

Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pans and bake for 20- 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack or serve warm from the oven.

Notes

Toast the nuts in a baking pan in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 10 minutes. Toss the nuts once at the 5 minute mark and return to the oven.

Nutrition Information

Yield

12

Serving Size

1 large muffin

Amount Per Serving Calories 233Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 16mgSodium 296mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 2gSugar 17gProtein 4g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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Trudy Schouten

Wednesday 27th of March 2019

I found the 5 Spice flavour overwhelmed the orange,,next time I'll cut it down a bit. Otherwise, a wonderful, moist muffin! Thank you, Barry!

Kathy

Friday 15th of March 2019

I made these today. They are ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!! I have only used five spice powder in savoury dishes until now - I think I've discovered my new favourite spice for baking .... thanks to you.

Mitchell Kehoe

Wednesday 13th of March 2019

Hi. Does it matter which type of date is used? Thanks!

Barry C. Parsons

Thursday 28th of March 2019

I'd use whatever was at hand.

Anonymous

Friday 27th of April 2012

Hi Barry, what temp oven do u use? Thanx

Barry C. Parsons

Saturday 28th of April 2012

350 degrees F will do.

Cristina Favreau

Monday 28th of November 2011

I made these this morning... Super yum!! The five spice really adds a nice flavor. Thanks for sharing.

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