Dark and delicious, dates are ideal as a healthy snack (especially when you’re after something sweet), sprinkled over museli or cooked in yummy desserts (remove stones before cooking), such as the sticky date muffins, below. Stacked with vitamin C to boost the immune system, they’re also a great source of potassium to help balance the effects of too much sodium in your body.

Sticky date muffins

200g dates, chopped
2/3 cup brown sugar
125g chopped butter
1 tsp bicarb soda
1½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup plain flour
¼ tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
The topping
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cream

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C for fan forced) and grease a 12-hole muffin tray.
2. Put dates, sugar, butter and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter is melted. Bring to the boil, then remove from heat and add bicarb soda. Let cool.
3. Sift flours and spice into a bowl, make a well in the middle and add whisked eggs, vanilla essence and date mixture. Fold gently with a spoon until just combined, being careful to not over mix the batter (best to leave it a little lumpy).
4. Spoon batter into the muffin tray so holes are 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes.
5. Make the topping In a small saucepan, heat sugar and cream over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Brush the warm sauce over warm muffins.