These muffins are so so flavourful, you’re going to love them! Fresh orange juice and zest, ground almonds and olive oil come together to make soft, light and utterly delicious muffins. They’re so good with a piping hot mug of tea or coffee, but also make a great breakfast, dessert and everything in between. I think this batter would also make a lovely cake, maybe add some cream cheese frosting? Let’s bake!
It’s been almost 6 years since I last made this recipe, which I’d first seen on Sweet Cannela. At the time, I’d gone through a phase of using barley flour in everything because it produces super soft cakes and muffins, but I’ve been back to regular all-purpose flour for a while now! I also used pulp last time, went back to juice and I realised the texture of these was a bit denser than I liked, possibly because I over-mixed the batter a little. But, with all that acid from the orange, I decided to swap the baking powder for soda and see what happens and boom, the texture was infinitely better, and I also used two eggs because three didn’t seem necessary. You can of course go with the original version too, but I honestly like this one more now!
I’ve also switched the method a bit to make it quicker and one-bowl. Almonds weigh down the batter and the small amount of soda also adds to the fact that these muffins won’t rise a whole lot. I really don’t mind that but they did rise more with baking powder in my experience, though like I said, I prefer the texture when soda is used because it reacts with the orange juice to create a soft, airier muffin.
The flavour is a wonderful balance of the almonds, orange and olive oil. I loved these so much and hope you do too!
Orange Almond Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4th cup caster sugar (140 gms)
- 2 oranges (Valencia or Indian Malta varieties work well for zesting and juicing)
- 2 eggs, at room temperature (I have not tried substitutes)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup olive oil (60 ml)
- 2 tbsps thick plain yoghurt or curd, at room temperature
- 3/4th cup finely ground almonds (70 gms; see notes)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (120 gms)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda (see notes)
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 C. Line 10 muffins moulds with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and zest of both oranges. Use your fingertips to rub the zest into the sugar until it's a pale orange and slightly moist. This helps get a really nice orange flavour in the muffins!
- Slice one of the oranges and squeeze out the juice to get 1/3 cup.
- Add the eggs and beat on low-medium speed with a hand mixer for a minute or two, until pale and slightly thickened. Add the vanilla, orange juice, olive oil and yoghurt and beat briefly to combine.
- Now fold in the ground almonds by hand, with a silicone spatula or spoon. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt, and stir gently until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter.
- Divide the batter equally among the muffin moulds, filling them two-thirds of the way (you may get an 11th muffin like I did, I prefer to not risk overflow and have an extra muffin, even if slightly smaller!).
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until browned on top, slightly domed (they will fall a bit as they cool and not have very tall tops), and a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool to room temperature because that's when they taste best. Store in an airtight tin for 2 to 3 days (the tops will soften once stored in a closed box) and in the fridge for a week, and the freezer for a few weeks. Happy baking!
Notes
Pingback: Orange Olive Oil Cake