Preheat oven to 350F.

Place your dates and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down heat to Low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in the Baking Soda and Butter, stirring occasionally until butter is melted.

Take off the heat and cool slightly.

If the mixture is all ready a chunky puree, then skip next step. If the dates seem to still be "solid" then place mixture in blender or food processor and blend until a chunky puree.

In medium bowl, sift in your flour and add sugar.

Next add in the Vanilla extract and the 2 eggs and now the date "puree" mixture.

Don't over mix.

At this point, you can keep the batter, covered in the fridge for up to 2 days until ready to bake.

In a muffin tin, prepare by placing paper muffin cups in.

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full.

Place in oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets. Muffins are ready when knife or cake tester inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack.

Serve plain or with Caramel Sauce.

Makes 12 medium sized muffins or 24 mini-muffins