Brain-food Muffins with Carrot, Lemon-Lime Drizzle and Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat oven to 180°C (350ºF). Grease your muffin tray.

Place chopped dates, avocado flesh, apple, orange juice and orange zest in a food processor and blend at high speed until you get a smooth, buttery paste. Put in a bowl and beat in egg yolks. Stir in sifted flour and baking powder, and add ground almonds, about 3/4 of the pumpkin seeds, spices and grated carrot. Mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold into the cake mixture. Scoop mixture into the prepared muffin tin and bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes until golden and risen. You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a cocktail stick into it. Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes out, clean the cake is done; if slightly sticky, it needs a bit longer.

Once muffins are ready, leave them to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and rest until cooled off.

In the meantime, gently roast remaining pumpkin seeds until golden. Sift confectioner’s sugar into a small bowl and add lemon and lime juice and zest. Whisk until smooth.

Once the muffins have cooled off, drizzle with lemon-lime syrup and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.