Sweet Potato and Date Bites (flourless, sugar-free, and vegan)

Recently I experimented with flour-free, refined sugar-free baking.  Now that I’m pretty comfortable baking without eggs and dairy, I thought why not push the boundaries. I mean surely you can remove eggs, milk, butter, flour, and sugar and still make good muffins right?

And so I put on my apron and started throwing things in the bowl. I didn’t come out with muffins, but I came out with something which is equally delicious and dare I say it, even more morish. Behold these bite-size muffins which are mildly sweet, chewy and every little bit is delicious. They are completely flourless, egg-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free. You’ll be surprised at how easy they are to make.

I had the idea of using boiled sweet potato leftover from my Billyboil Thermal Cooker review. Though I expect the same result could be achieved using steamed or roasted sweet potatoes.

Instead of wheat flour, I used ground rolled oats. I pulsed them in the food processor until they resembled fine crumbs. I then mixed them with ground cinnamon and ginger to give them a bit of a sweet spiced hit. For sweetness, I used Medjool dates and sweet potatoes… no need for refined sugar when you have dates in your pantry. A note of warning though, make sure you remove the pits! A couple of times I forget to de-pit my dates and ended up having to ‘dig’ around to get them. They’re so hard that my food processor left them whole (either that or I just have a weak food processor).

Once you prepare the date mixture, you just to need mix it with the oat flour, transfer the mixture onto the prepared patty cases and bake. These muffins will look slightly undercooked when you take them out from the oven but don’t worry, they will firm up as they sit to cool. They’re one of those baked goods which taste better when eaten cold… they’re slightly fudgy and chewy.

You can easily make these gluten-free by simply using gluten free oats. Some oats contain traces of gluten so make sure you look for the gluten-free label.

And oh, one more thing… I use Chia eggs to ‘veganise’ these yummy bites, render them cholesterol free, and boost their nutritional content. To make chia eggs you just need to mix 1 tablespoon of chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water. This will give you the equivalent of 1 egg to act as a binder or leavening agent in your baked goods.

I can go on and on about the health benefits of sweet potato, chia seeds, dates, oats, etc but maybe it’s better to just make them because they taste good :)

Wholesome, nutritious and clean. These are the kind of treats that you will love and love you back.

I love eating these by the handful. When it comes to sweet treats, I like bite-size pieces, what about you?