I wanted to bake something tonight but nothing too sweet like cake or cookies. I started browsing through my cookbooks and decided to make these muffins. I figured I could bring them into work so they weren’t tempting me all week plus they called for orange zest, which would give me a chance to finally use my zester! The zester was as amazing as I’d heard it would be but unfortunately, I overcooked the muffins a little. I think our oven temperature is off as the baking time is always off when I try to make something. This recipe called for 22-25 minutes and I pulled these out right before 20 minutes and they were already overcooked. Oh well... next time I’ll pay closer attention. The muffins were still good, but I know they could be better if cooked properly!
By Tracey
Orange Berry Muffins
from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients:
- Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
- About 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup blueberries – fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)
Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.
Makes 12 muffins.
