These muffins have a lot of orange flavours because you will be using fresh orange juice and the rind of the orange, which contains oil and intense orange flavours. They are also pretty healthy because you will not be using butter; you will use a little oil and a lot of orange juice to keep them moist. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add all-purpose flour to a bowl with salt and baking powder, and then whisk the dry ingredients.

Zest the orange over a measuring cup, and you should have about one big-heaping tablespoon of orange zest for the juice of the oranges. For the wet ingredients, add vegetable oil to the orange zest, then crack two large eggs into the cup, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and one cup of fresh orange juice. In a bowl, add white sugar, then pour the wet ingredients into the sugar and mix until everything is well combined.

Walnuts go well with these orange muffins, so if you love them, add about half a cup and make sure the nuts are chopped into small pieces. If you don’t like walnuts, you can leave them out. Pour the orange mixture into the flour mixture and mix gently until everything is incorporated. Don’t overmix the batter; just until the lumps are gone.

Fold in the nuts, if using, and your batter will be ready. You will need your muffin tray and liners, or you can oil the cups and then pour in the batter. Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to fill the muffins about three-quarters full. Bake the muffins in the oven for about 20 minutes, and use a toothpick to check if they are well baked before removing them from the oven.

Leave the muffins in the pan for about 15 minutes until they are ready to be removed from the pan. Serve them with butter and a cup of coffee in the morning.

Ingredients;

  • 2 cups (240 g or 8.5 Oz) of all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Zest two medium oranges, then juice them – you should get about 1 cup of juice and one heaping tbsp of zest.
  • In a measuring cup, pour ⅓ cup Olive oil or flavourless vegetable oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp orange zest, two large eggs, and 1 cup orange juice.

Instructions;

  • Pour this mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
  • Stir gently until mixed. I folded in ½ cup chopped walnuts to the batter at the end.
  • If you don’t like nuts, you may leave them out of the recipe.
  • This recipe makes about 15 muffins, so you’ll need two muffin pans.
  • You can line or oil the trays. Use an ice cream scoop to pour the batter into each cup.
  • Bake in a 350 heated oven for 15 – 20 minutes. Check after 10 minutes and rotate the pans.
  • Check after 5 minutes. They are done if a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
  • Do not overbake – my muffins were done in 15 minutes. Cool the pans on a rack.
  • They will come out quickly with the help of an offset spatula – if you are not using liners.