Whole Wheat Apple Orange Muffins

Ingredients

4 oz whole wheat flour

4 1/4 oz AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp orange zest

4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided into 1/4 and 1/2 cup

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice

3 small apples

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease and flour 2 muffin tins or line with wrappers and grease the inside of those (I prefer using a combo spray such as Spectrum Cooking Spray with Canola Oil and Flour. Great time saver.)

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and zest.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter, sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar on medium-high until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Turn the mixer to low and slowly alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Mix until just combined.

Peel, core and dice the apples. Fold them into the muffin batter along with the orange juice.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (a cookie scoop helps create perfectly shaped muffins), sprinkling the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar on top. It will look like a lot of sugar but it adds a wonderfully sweet crunch to the top of the muffins.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then gently turn the muffins out onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

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About

I’ve always been the type of person who thinks ‘what do I feel like cooking or baking this week?’ I brainstorm some ideas and then I’m off to the grocery store to pick up whatever I need. It occurred to me recently that such thinking, while gratifying, isn’t exactly economical. I have an entire pantry and fridge full of supplies. Why not simply search around for ingredients I have on hand and go from there? This is probably what the rest of the universe already does, but sometimes I look past the obvious. Since we’re on a bit of a restricted budget right now, it’s my new plan. And that is how this entry came to be.

I hesitate to call these Whole Wheat Apple Orange Muffins because the orange flavor didn’t come through as much as I expected it to. But it was there. I added 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice and 1 tablespoon of orange zest. I contemplated adding 1 tsp of pure orange extract but went against my better judgement. Next time I’ll definitely add that and I recommend you do the same if you want an orange flavor that stands up to the apples. All that being said I think the orange ingredients definitely brightened up the recipe with a delicate aftertaste. The final product was ridiculously moist and the brown sugar topping added the perfect crunch.

I’ve adapted this recipe from King Arthur Flour. Aside from the oranges, I also added more apples.