Mmmmmmm....you should taste these...you really should...cakey, delicate and orange-y with bursts of blueberries that would make your tastebuds sit up and sing! I did my very best to screw up this recipe...but it worked anyway. I added the orange zest to the wrong bowl, I forgot the baking soda and had to add it after all was mixed and then I put the crystallized sugar on top of the muffins right before they went into the oven instead of waiting until after they'd baked 10 minutes so the sugar would be sparkly and pretty on top...yep, I did my very best to ruin them but they ignored me and rewarded me with the taste of summer in every bite.
Here's the best part about these muffins...IF you have any left
Orange Berry Muffins ~ Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours By Dorie Greenspan
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
1 stick 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)
Decorating sugar, for topping (optional)
Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. (I used a 24 mold mini-muffin pan and papers.) Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
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 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 into the sugar/zest. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. The batter will be lumpy and bubbly - 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 using a 24-count mini-muffin tin, like I did, you will bake for 14 to 16 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 ceter of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer pan to a rack to cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from it's mold.
"I am not bound to win but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed but I am bound to live up to what light I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right; stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong." ~
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One year ago today: Peanut Butter Cupcakes With Chocolate Ganache Frosting (Seriously one of the BEST cupcake recipes in the universe!)
