Thursday, April 23, 2009

Orange Berry Muffins



For some reason, I have really bad luck with muffins.  I can never seem to get them to be airy and fluffy like the ones you buy.  I don't really understand where I am going wrong!  My conclusion is that the ones you buy are actually just giant cupcakes, and that's why they are so soft and fluffy.


These muffins are from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, Baking: From my home to yours.  This was a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe that was chosen long before I joined.  I had seen it a few times while flicking through the book and it caught my eye.  I actually have the intention of baking all the recipes that were chosen before I joined, so this is another one under the belt.  Like I said earlier, my muffins weren't overly light and fluffy, but they were still tasty.  I love blueberries in anything, and combined with the fragrant orange zest batter, it was delicious!



Orange Berry Muffins
from Dorie Greenspan's cookbook, Baking: From my home, to yours

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About ¾ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
⅓ cup (2.33 ounces) sugar
2 cups (9.6 ounces) all-purpose flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries - fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)
Decorating sugar, for topping (optional)


Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. 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 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 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.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love these muffins. They are one of the few TWD recipes I've made more than once.

Bria said...

Yes, I'll have to make them again soon. Hopefully they are a bit lighter next time.