Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweet buttery orange glazed pecans elevate a simple orange muffin to a super treat in these orange glazed pecan muffins. Enjoy with a cup of tea or a cold glass of milk!

As I mentioned in my post on Saturday, I made those orange glazed pecans solely to include them in muffin recipe for today but thankfully the pecan recipes makes about twice what you need for the muffins. Otherwise, there would not be enough left, they are that more-ish and delicious. 

Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins

Orange glazed pecans are super simple to make. You can find my recipe here: https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2023/08/orange-glazed-pecans.html 

You can also use store-bought candied pecans. I often find them in the bulk section at Kroger. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins

2/3 cup or 130g sugar

Zest of 1 mandarin orange

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 

2 eggs

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

Juice of 2 mandarin oranges (about 1/4 cup or 60ml)

1 cup or 100g orange glazed pecans

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by spraying with non-stick spray or lining it with muffin papers. Since I was concerned that the pecans might get sticky again when hot, I chose to just grease my pan this time. 

Measure your sugar into a bowl and zest the mandarin orange into it. Use the back of a spoon or spatula to press down on the zest and mix it in with the sugar, releasing the flavor and oil till the sugar is a pale yellow and whole bowl smells of bright citrusy sunshine. Go ahead, take a big sniff. It's glorious! 

Whisk together your flour, orange sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. 

Chop the glazed pecans.

Add most of them to the flour mixture, saving some for sprinkling on the tops before baking. Use your hands to mix them in and separate any pieces that are sticking together till they are all well coated in the flour mixture.

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

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed, with a little flour still showing. 

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top with the reserved pecans. 

Bake for about 18-20 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.

Enjoy!

It is once again the last Monday of the month, which means it's time for Muffin Monday! Check out all the great muffin recipes my blogger friends are sharing today. 

• Carrot, Mango and Zucchini Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Orange Blueberry Zucchini Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Vanilla Pudding Zucchini Bread Muffins from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Zucchini Snickerdoodle Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce

Gooey, sweet and sticky, this banana pecan caramel sauce is perfection over ice cream, brownies or baked apples. Or you can just eat it with a spoon. You won’t get any judgment from me. Seriously, it’s that good. 

I am not a big sweet eater but I do have a fondness for caramel. The caramelization of sugar adds a welcome slight bitterness that I find very appealing and I know I’m not alone in that. Some of the most popular candies in the world have caramel as an element. Think Snickers, Milky Way and Twix to name just three.

As a kid, my movie candy of choice was always a big box of Milk Duds and I loved Sugar Daddys which were basically a solid rectangle of caramel on a stick. Those would pull your fillings out if you weren’t careful! Totally worth the risk. 

If you feel the same way as I do about caramel, you are going to love this sauce. 

Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce

This recipe makes a little more than two cups of sauce. Because of the bananas, I recommend you store any leftovers in a refrigerator, which means it will turn solid but spoon-able. Gently rewarm it back to sauce consistency before using. This recipe is adapted from one on Marsha’s Baking Addiction.

Ingredients

1 cup or 240ml water

2 cups or 400g sugar

1/2 cup or 57g chopped pecans

2 medium bananas (about 180g), pureed until smooth

1/2 cup or 120ml heavy cream, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add the water and sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.

Turn the heat down to medium and allow the mixture to come to a light amber color without stirring. 

Instead, swirl the pan around occasionally to make sure the mixture caramelizes evenly. (This can take a while. Be patient, and don't be tempted to turn up the heat!)

Remove the pan from the heat, and add in the chopped pecans. Stir well.

 Add in the pureed banana. Stir constantly until combined and the bubbling has stopped.

Place back on the heat, and keep stirring until the mixture becomes a deep, rich amber color.

Remove from the heat and gradually pour in the heavy cream, stirring constantly until combined. The sauce might sugar up at this point if your cream isn't room temperature but just keep stirring and all will be well, as the sugar melts again and it turns back into a sauce. 

Take the pot off of the stove and stir in the vanilla.

Pour the caramel into a heat-proof jar and allow to cool completely before using. Serve over ice cream or even spread on toast or pancakes. 

Or eat it with a spoon. 

Again, no judgment from me.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and my blogger friends and I are celebrating National Banana Lover’s Day, which is today! How will you celebrate? We’ve got a list of great recipes you might like to try. Check them out below: 

• Banana Chip Cookies with Melted Caramel from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Banana Mousse from Culinary Cam
• Banana Pecan Caramel Sauce from Food Lust People Love
• Banana Zucchini Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Coated Banana from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Double Chocolate Whole Wheat Banana Bread from Cook with Renu
• Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Pretzel Bites from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Sourdough Banana Appe from Sneha’s Recipe

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Orange Glazed Pecans

Super easy to make but addictively delicious, these orange glazed pecans are a delightful snack, muffin ingredient or dessert topper. 

I made these orange glazed pecans specifically to use in an orange muffin recipe, an idea that came to me in the middle of the night last night. My brain is weird and wonderful like that. Orange muffins with pecans would be good but what if I kicked them up a notch with orange glazed pecans? 

It was a good decision and you’ll find that recipe here on Monday. Meanwhile, make some glazed pecans and try not to eat them all. You’ll need about half of them for the muffins, if you can manage to save that many. 

For years my mom has been telling me about some orange glazed pecans that were a specialty of my aunt Karen’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Ayo, but I’ve never made them. I think she used frozen orange juice concentrate. This version is much easier and I look forward to making some for Mom soon. 

Orange Glazed Pecans

A few of my pecan halves were broken but I carried on anyway because, as mentioned above, my plan was to chop a lot of them up to use in a muffin recipe. If you are serving these to guests and need them to look pretty, you might want to choose all whole halves. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons orange juice

Zest from 1 Mandarin orange or tangerine

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups or 150g pecan halves

Method

Add pecans, brown sugar, butter, orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon and salt to a medium skillet over medium heat. 

Stir regularly while the butter and sugar melt into a syrup. 

Once mixture is bubbling, stir frequently, until pecans are golden brown and all of the orange-sugar mixture has evaporated and the pecans are well coated with the glaze. 

Spread the pecans out onto a silicone pat or piece of nonstick baking parchment paper, separating them right away. 

Cool completely then store in an airtight container someplace cool. 

Enjoy! 

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Oatmeal Raisin Gluten-free Quick Bread

This oatmeal raisin gluten-free quick bread is made with oat flour and a bread flour mix for a light loaf that is great as is and even better toasted.

If you search the internet for gluten-free flour mixes, there are countless recipes to combine at home. I’ve had really good luck though with the store-bought combos. Gluten-free bread flour mixes tend to have additives like xanthan gum which saves you from buying an extra ingredient so that’s what I used for this loaf. 

Oatmeal Raisin Gluten-free Quick Bread

If your family isn’t crazy about raisins, by all means substitute chocolate chips instead. I made my own oat flour by whizzing the required weight of oats in my small food processor. It worked great so I don’t hesitate to recommend you do the same. Note that your oven will start at a higher temperature for the first 10 minutes, then you’ll turn it down. 

Ingredients

1 ⅜ cups or 193g all-purpose gluten free flour blend 

¾ cup or 150g granulated sugar

⅝ cup or 75g certified gluten free oat flour (See note above.)

⅜ cup or 54g cornstarch

½ cup or 50g certified gluten free oatmeal, divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 75g raisins

1 cup or 245g plain yogurt, at room temperature

6 tablespoons or 84g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C. Grease well an 8.5-inch x 4.5-inch loaf pan, then line it with some parchment paper. Set it aside.

In a large bowl, place the flour blend, sugar, oat flour, cornstarch, oat flour, baking powder, xanthan gum (if needed), baking soda and salt. Separate out a couple of tablespoons of the oats to use for decoration then add the rest to the bowl. Whisk to combine well.

Rinse and drain the raisins. Add them to the flour mixture and stir to coat. 

In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, butter and eggs. 

Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the beaten wet ingredients.

Fold until just combined but no dry ingredients should be showing. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle on some of the reserved oats. Wet a spatula and score the top of the loaf down the middle. Finish with the rest of the reserved oats. 

Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F or 180°C and continue to bake for another 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top of the loaf springs back when pressed lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with, at most, a few moist crumbs attached.

If the top starts to brown too much, cover it lightly with foil for the remainder of the cooking time. 

Remove the loaf from the oven and allow to cool in the loaf pan for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Slice to serve either plain or toasted. 

Enjoy! 

It’s the second Tuesday of the month and in my world that means it’s time for my Bread Bakers to get together and share recipes. Our theme today is gluten-free bread. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha’s Recipe. 

• Coconut Banana Zucchini Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Gluten Free Oat Crackers from Ambrosia
• Gluten Free Sourdough Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Keto Coconut Flour Bread from Sneha’s Recipe 
• Oatmeal Raisin Gluten-free Quick Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Rice and Almond Thin Crackers with Sea Salt from Karen’s Kitchen Stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Smoked Salmon Smørrebrød

This smoked salmon smørrebrød is the perfect open-faced sandwich made with lemony cream cheese flavored and flecked with green chives, on sourdough toast. Topped to finish with watercress, it’s the perfect light lunch or snack. 

When our host decided on Sandwich Recipes for today’s Sunday FunDay theme, I knew immediately what I wanted to make. Some rendition of the “Dutch sandwiches” I made for a post in the very first year I started this blog. (So please forgive the ugly photos. I keep those up to remind myself how far I’ve come.)

I tell the story of working at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Abu Dhabi and how I first learned about open-faced sandwiches. Despite spending some of my formative years as an expat child, clearly, I still had a lot to learn about other cultures. 

For this post I did a bit more research to discover that many other countries also enjoy open-face sandwiches so my Dutch title was a bit misplaced. In fact, according to Wikipedia, “In countries like Denmark, where smørrebrød is common, smørrebrød is not considered a form of sandwich; rather, a sandwich is considered a form of smørrebrød with an extra piece of bread on top.” 

To-may-to, to-mah-to. Whatever we call it, the research was fun and we loved the sandwiches. 

Smoked Salmon Smørrebrød

The cream cheese can be made a day ahead and, in fact, tastes better when it is because the flavors have time to meld. If you can’t get your hands on chives, use green onion tops and mince finely. The cream cheese will make more than two large open-faced sandwiches but if you are as generous with the salmon as I am, you’ll need to buy more. 

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g block cream cheese (not whipped spread) at room temperature

Zest 1 lemon

Small bunch fine chives, plus extra for garnish

Freshly ground black pepper

3 1/2 oz or 100g smoked salmon, finely slices

2 large slices sourdough bread

Baby watercress for garnish

Method

Finely slice the chives.

Mix them into the softened cream cheese, along with the lemon zest and a few good grinds of black pepper. 

Refrigerate in a covered container until about 30 minutes before you are really to assemble the open-faced sandwiches. 

Spread the bread, toasted or untoasted – your choice – with the chive lemon cream cheese. 

Top with smoked salmon. 

Add on some watercress and more chives, if desired, along with a couple of grinds of black pepper. 

As my sourdough slices are so large, I cut them in four pieces each to serve. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay! Hope the weather is nice where you live. The sun has finally come out over here and we are beyond delighted. In honor of National Sandwich Month, my fellow bloggers and I are sharing sandwich recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Mayuri's Jikoni: Avocado Tomato Sandwich
• Palatable Pastime: Brie and Vegetable Agrodolce Sandwich 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Brown Bread Carrot Cabbage Sandwich
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Dill Pickle Grilled Cheese
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Grilled Meatball Sub
• Food Lust People Love: Smoked Salmon Smørrebrød
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Whiskey Bacon Butter Bacon, Egg, & Cheese

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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