ORANGE BERRY MUFFINS

by Shumaila

For days there were these orange colored things that were lying in my fruit basket– getting more and more ripe as the days passed by. DH isn’t a fan of oranges, so I had to come up with some innovative way to get it in his stomach (I know, I know…they are like kids!). He is a Taurean, and very rigid about things he wants to do and things he doesn’t. So no matter how many times I told him please eat an orange, his hand would always reach out for the banana lying on the side.

Now, I absolutely HATE when I have to throw something away because it’s gone bad. And, being new at grocery management, the last few months I have had to throw quite some stuff away, especially since we live in a town where easy access to Indian vegetables is not available. So, it would have killed me to throw these away too- even though I am talking about 2 oranges- but still!

I rummaged through my baking books to find out the best way to use these oranges and “Super” Dorie came to the rescue! And she had a recipe that included blueberries too…double whammy (my blueberries had also been sitting for some time)! I mean there are days when things just work for you and this was just one of those days!:)

These muffins aren’t overtly sweet, (just the right amount of sweet my DH and I like), with a hint of orange in the background, and the star player being the blueberries.

Since I had more oranges and berries than the recipe called for I doubled the amounts. Plus, the double recipe also gave me a chance to use my oh! so beautiful Nordic ware muffin bundt pans (I told ya it was just one of those days!)

ORANGE BERRY MUFFINS

(makes 12 muffins)

source: “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 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup blueberries- fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Method

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease pan with butter or spray. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large measuring cup or 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 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 (coarse 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.

The muffins are great warm or at room temperature and they are particularly great split, toasted and spread with butter or jam. (Believe me!)

Storage Tip: If you want to keep them, wrap them airtight and pop them into the freezer, where they’ll keep for up to 2 months; rewarm in a 350-degree-F oven. Or split and toast them!