The Resolution

Orange muffins were the best idea ever. They are super easy to make, and taste like a dream. A few kitchen mishaps actually enhanced the outcome, and therefore I've come up with my own version of a recipe. MMMM... I had one for dinner, and then one for breakfast this morning.

Here is how you do it:



Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar... but i used 3/4 cup of sugar.
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. Orange extract- not in original recipe but I thought it needed to be more "orange-y"
2/3 cup orange juice- but since I used more sugar, it increased to 1 cup.
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter



Topping Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup packed brown sugar... I used 1/2 cup
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon... I used Apple Pie Spice in addition to the cinnamon because it has cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and some other goodies in it
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)... i did not use these.


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and orange zest in mixing bowl. Stir in orange juice, eggs, orange extract and 1/2 cup of melted butter. Add anything else at this time that you want... nuts, dried cranberries, etc.
3. Pour batter into muffin cups.
4. To make topping: blend 1 tablespoon melted margarine, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon together, along with nuts, etc (if you choose). Sprinkle mixture over top of each muffin. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

So because I taste my batters before baking, I decided that there needed to be more sugar and a little bit of orange extract. Also, because I didn't have any nuts on hand, I didn't use them in the batter or for the topping, but I added more sugar, and therefore had to add more orange juice to get the batter consistency right. Because I did this, my batter didn't hold the topping ON TOP of the muffin during baking since it wasn't as stiff... therefore the cinnamon and brown sugar topping was swallowed by the muffins and created a delightful cinnamon filling in the end and a pretty cool pattern on the top of the muffin.

This recipe only made 12 muffins... but is very easy to double if you are making jumbo muffins, or cut in half if you only want a couple.

The kitchen adventures begin...