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Monday, March 23, 2015

Orange Poppy Seed Muffins #MuffinMonday

Fresh orange juice and poppy seeds make beautiful sunshiny muffins that everyone will want to wake up to eat! They also make great snacks. 

As I mentioned yesterday while serving up Irish lamb stew in this space, I am in chilly Rhode Island for the week - my last Spring Break! My baby girl will graduate from Rhode Island School of Design this May. She has been sweet enough to invite me to come each year since she started at RISD, so this is the last scheduled spring break that affects my life and holiday planning. Which makes me both sad and proud. 

This year, all of her close friends are also staying in town, working hard on their degree projects, so I have put myself in charge of sustenance starting with homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches the other night and orange poppy seed muffins today, delivered to their studios as they worked. 

I am later than usual posting the muffins because tonight we ate eggplant Parmigiana and garlicky green beans so I was busy cooking that and scooping them up from studio to eat. It's 9 p.m. as I write this and they've gone back to work! Future meals on the menu include vegetarian crispy tacos and lentil burgers.

If you know me at all, you know I am in hog heaven cooking for girls again! These orange poppy seeds muffins were a special request, one I was only too happy to oblige.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
2/3 cup or 130g sugar
Zest of one orange plus extra for decorating, if desired
2 tablespoons poppy seeds plus extra for decorating, if desired
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml orange juice
1/3 cup or 80ml extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup or 60ml milk

Optional glaze:
2-3 teaspoons fresh orange juice
7-8 tablespoons powdered sugar or as much as needed to reach your desired thickness.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by spraying with non-stick spray or lining with muffin papers.

Combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds and salt in a large mixing bowl. Grate in your orange zest.


In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, orange juice, oil and milk.



Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed.



Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups.



Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.



Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

To make the glaze, put your orange juice in a small bowl and then add the powdered sugar a tablespoon or two at at time, stirring well in between, until you reach your desired consistency.



Spoon a little on top of each cool muffin.

Then sprinkle with  extra orange zest and poppy seeds, if desired.



Enjoy!





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