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A delicious gluten-free and dairy-free muffin recipe filled with chopped dates and covered in a rich maple syrup coconut cream caramel sauce.
These dairy free sticky toffee pudding muffins are amazing! They have a rich sweet flavor thanks to the dates inside of them, and when they are drenched in caramel sauce, it just takes them to a whole other level.
I love using dates in recipes. My Raspberry Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Bacon, Apple Pie Energy Balls, and Chocolate Covered Pumpkin Stuffed Dates are some of my favorites. But when I want dates in baked good form. These muffins are my go-to.
Table of Contents
What makes this recipe great
- They are naturally gluten-free and dairy-free.
- They are made with healthier ingredients like almond flour, coconut sugar, and olive oil.
- They are great for those following a Paleo, grain-free, gluten-free, or dairy-free diet.
- They taste amazing and are filled with sweet date and caramel flavors! I had 5 people taste test these and they LOVED them. I hope you love them too!
What is sticky toffee pudding?
Sticky Toffee Pudding is a British dessert. It is basically a moist cake sweetened with dates and covered in a toffee caramel sauce.
It is normally made in a ramekin. The cake is flipped over and sits in a pool of caramel sauce. It is divine!
I had the most amazing sticky toffee pudding in Northern Ireland on my trip there back in May.
It was pretty easy using sticky toffee pudding cake, and my memories of it, as inspiration for a cleaner dessert. Which is where these Gluten-Free Paleo Sticky Toffee Pudding Muffins come to play.
Recipe ingredients
- Medjool dates– make sure your dates are fresh and soft.
- Boiling hot water– this softness the dates even more.
- Baking soda– this helps make the muffins rise.
- Vanilla extract– any kind works for this recipe.
- Almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour– this combination of flours works great for gluten-free and Paleo desserts.
- Olive oil-I love baking with olive oil because it makes for moist desserts.
- Coconut sugar– coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than other sugars.
- Eggs– these bind the muffin batter together.
- Maple syrup– this is used to naturally sweeten this dessert.
- Coconut cream and Coconut oil– I use both of these often in healthier baking and Paleo baking recipes.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Additions/ Substitutions
- Instead of olive oil, you can use avocado oil.
- Instead of coconut sugar, you can use brown sugar.
- Instead of coconut cream, you can use a thick coconut milk.
Step by step instructions:
Step 1: Make the date muffin portion of the recipe.
To do this, you need to soak the chopped dates in boiling hot water to soften them. Baking soda and vanilla is also added to the mixture and everything sits for 15 minutes.
Then, you mix the almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour and salt together in one bowl. Next, you mix the olive oil, coconut sugar and eggs together in yet another bowl. Then you add in the soaked dates mixture. After that, you mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Then, you put the date cake mixture into muffin tins and bake!
Step 2: make the caramel sauce. To do this, you add maple syrup, coconut cream, and coconut oil to a pan and boil it. Then you let the mixture simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Step 3: Once the muffins are done, soak them in the caramel sauce.
I like putting one muffin on a plate and pouring some caramel sauce on top… then I add more sauce on top.
Other Gluten-Free muffin recipes you’ll love:
Did you try this recipe? Please leave me a ⭐ review below!
Gluten-Free Sticky Toffee Pudding Muffins (Dairy-free)
Ingredients
Muffin Ingredients:
- 8 medjool dates, pitted and finely chopped ( about 1 cup of chopped dates)
- 3/4 cup boiling hot water
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 2 Tbs coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 2 eggs
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup canned coconut cream
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted ( measure it in it's melted state )
- a pinch of salt
Instructions
Muffin Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. I use an olive oil spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the dates, boiling water, baking soda and vanilla extract. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.
- In another medium bowl, mix the almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, and, salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk or beat together the olive oil, coconut sugar, and eggs until smooth. Stir in the date mixture. Add half of the dry flour mixture and mix, then add the other half and mix again. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes. Spoon the batter into the greased muffin tin.
- Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing them. I use a knife to push along the edges of the muffins and then lift each muffin out.
Sauce Instructions:
- While the muffins are baking, make the sauce. Put the maple syrup, coconut cream, coconut oil, and salt in a pan and whisk well.
- Set the stovetop heat to medium-high. Once the mixture starts to boil, then immediately set it to low-medium heat.
- Whisk the mixture every so often for 10-15 minutes, until everything is dissolved, smooth and thicker.
- Pour the sauce on top of the muffins prior to serving.
Notes
- Instead of olive oil, you can use avocado oil.
- Instead of coconut sugar, you can use brown sugar.
- Instead of coconut cream, you can use a thick coconut milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These are absolutely sensational. So light and fluffy. I’m so glad I scoured the net and found this recipe. This will now be my go to healthy sticky date recipe!
Very happy to hear it! I love these muffins as well.