Yum

The weather was pretty horrible round these parts at the weekend, so my plans for weeding the garden went out the window. Instead I did some baking and I thought I'd share the recipe.

This is my favourite muffin recipe. It comes from my well-thumbed (and food-stained) copy of Very Easy Vegetarian by Alison and Simon Holst.

I love how these muffins look - lovely and brown on the outside and a great burst of orange colour on the inside. They really do cheer you up on a dull day. And they taste very yummy too!

Best Orange Muffins
For 12 medium-sized muffins:

1 orange (about 200g)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
½ cup milk or orange juice
100g butter, melted
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup sultanas or chopped dates
½ cup chopped walnuts, optional

Cut the unpeeled orange into quarters, then each quarter into four pieces crossways. Put these pieces and the sugar into a food processor and process, with the metal chopping blade, until the orange is very finely chopped. Add the egg, milk or juice and melted butter, and process until combined.


Sift the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl, tip the orange mixture into the bowl, sprinkle the sultanas or dates over it, and add the nuts if using them. Then, taking care not to over-mix, fold the mixtures together, stopping as soon as the dry ingredients are dampened, but before the mixture is smooth.


Butter (or coat with non-stick spray) 12 medium sized muffin pans. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pans. Bake at 200deg Celsius for 12-15 minutes, until tops are golden brown and the centres spring back when pressed. Cool in tins for 3 minutes then lift out carefully. Serve warm, plain, buttered, or topped with cream cheese.

Extra notes:
I have made these using orange juice (freshly squeezed) and milk and both versions are yummy.
This batch was made with sultanas, but I prefer the date version.
I don't tend to add the nuts.
The recipe as written makes 12 small-ish muffins. For this batch I made 1 ½ times the recipe to make them bigger.

They freeze really well (if you have any left!)