Orange muffins

These plump beauties, with the right notes of orange are not only fresh tasting but also serve as such a delightful post meal dessert. In fact I ate them instead of a meal but that’s only because they don’t feel overly heavy or dense. Delicate flavours, that orangey tang and all in a form of cake. It doesn’t get better than this.

These muffins are actually a spin on Dorie Greenspan’s lemon and poppy-seed muffins. Since they called for fresh lemon and poppy seeds, both ingredients strangely absent from my local walmart (I live in China), I decided to play with oranges, and believe me, I wouldn’t have has it another way. This has tasted better than any orange related confectionery, dessert, cake I have ever had.

Ingredients

3 tbsp sugar

zest and juice of a small orange

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup yogurt

1 large egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

4 tbsp melted and cooled butter

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and lemon zest with your finger tips, until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong.

Whisk in the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.

Now, in another bowl whisk the yogurt, eggs, orange juice, vanilla, and melted butter together until well blended. It will smell heavenly.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to blend. Do not over mix, just stir in until it all just comes together. Lumpy muffin batter makes for the lightest muffins.

Divide the batter in the muffin trays and bake for 18-20 mins @ 200℃

makes 6 muffins..

Another pic for the morale boost..