Cereal Dater Muffins

Note from Marie: You know the old saying "there's truth in fiction"? Well there's truth in recipes, too. I'm single, and so, naturally, I enjoy going on dates. Without getting too deep into my personal life, let's just say that the name of this recipe popped into my head long before I created the recipe. Name aside, the muffins are fantastic: Tasty, hearty, and healthy -- with lots of fiber in the muesli cereal, and potassium in the dates. That said, if you make the jumbo-sized muffins, they're really big . . . certainly too big for one person . . . but perfect for splitting with your next hot date!

Yields 6 jumbo muffins (or 12 regular-sized).

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups white sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (no sugar added) muesli cereal

15 dried, pitted dates, chopped (approx. 1 cup)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease jumbo muffin tins.

In large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix together flour, muesli, baking soda, and salt. Add dates and stir to combine.

Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Dough will be thick.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. (Fill to top.) Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the muffin.