Orange Berry Muffins

(Source: Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From My Home to Yours)



Ingredients:

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

About 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 Tablespoons honey

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) 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)


 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.



Note: my muffins were based upon the above recipe however I adapted them slightly. I used larger muffin tins and made just 9  muffins. (I filled the 3 empty tins with a little cold water.) I also used more blueberries than the recipe called for; a heaping cupful and then another handful of berries.... so about a cup and a half.



 Absolutely delicious.  Dorie Greenspan, you're my hero!