As part of Muffin Madness, I challenged myself to make Blueberry-Orange muffins. I wanted to include candied orange peel tossed with ground cloves, sprinkled on top of the muffins. After doing a little research, I found the website Food Pairings that indicated cardamom was a good match for blueberries and bitter orange peel, so I decided to stir the candied orange peel into the batter along with some ground cardamom.
The candied orange peel I purchased, however, was not high quality and contained a large amount of pith. The candied orange sunk to the bottom of each muffin, and the original recipe I used called for granulated white sugar instead of brown sugar, so the muffins themselves were quite dry and flavorless. It took three attempts to get this recipe right, which included swapping in brown sugar, using fresh orange juice and fresh orange zest to make the muffins moist, and tinkering with the amount of blueberries for maximum impact.
Here is the final result! Use frozen blueberries for best flavor and texture (thaw first).
Blueberry-Orange Muffins
adapted from Cooking Light
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 cup blueberries
Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by coating it in cooking spray.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cardamom.
In a large bowl, combine butter, buttermilk, egg, orange juice and orange zest. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until combined. Add half of the flour mixture and beat to combine. Add the second half of the flour mixture and beat to combine. Fold in blueberries.
Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling the cups about 3/4 of the way. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.
Makes about 12 muffins.
