I like to try a new muffin variation every few days. I recently whipped up these chocolate orange chocolate chunk muffins for Dan as a celebratory treat. He just found out he got a new job, so I decided to make these a bit more special and cake-ish by baking them in colourful paper liners and adding a glaze.
It is a simple orange glaze, if you’d like to glaze yours, stir together a little confectioners sugar and 2 -3 tbsp’ of orange juice in a small bowl. Once the muffins are cool dip the tops in the mixture, letting some of the glaze drip back into the bowl (so it doesn’t run everywhere), and set them aside to dry.
Minneola Tangelo zest is what gives these muffins a rich orangey flavour, this sweet citrus fruit pairs well with deep dark chocolate. The fruit itself is actually a cross between a Duncan grapefruit and a Dancy tangerine. They are very juicy, easy to peel and the zest is my favourite to use in baked goods, or any recipes that require orange zest really. They are sometimes refered to as a honeybell as well.
For dinner the other night I made a spinach salad with poppy seed dressing, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts and juicy minneola tangelo pieces. I don’t like to waste the wonderful minneola tangelo zest, since it is really flavourful. So before I cut the citrus fruit I zested them and set the zest aside in a bowl to flavour these muffins. The scent of the citrus zest and the fruits sweet oil was fresh and delightful. Make these muffins and your kitchen will smell delicious as an added bonus.
I make muffins an awful lot and I usually use this method because it is so simple. Just whisk up the dry and wet mixtures separately and then gently fold them together. This recipe makes exactly 12 muffins.
Ingredients:
dry:
1 2/3rd’s cups all purpose flour,
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder,
1/3 cup + 1/4 cup raw cane sugar of sugar,
1/4 tsp sea salt,
about 150g of dark chocolate chunks
wet:
2 minneola tangelos worth of zest,
1/2 cup of oil,
2 eggs,
1/2 cup of milk or soy milk (I use soy),
1 tsp vanilla,
1/3 cup maple syrup
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set the mixture aside.
Zest the oranges into a medium size bowl, be careful not to add any of the bitter orange pith (white part). It is best to use a really fine grater for this, I use an acid etched micro plane. It’s definitely a kitchen tool worth buying as it it useful for many things, does a fine job and stays very sharp (be careful with them though, for this reason).
Add the oil, eggs, vanilla, maple syrup and milk and whisk the wet mixture together.
Form a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture.Stir everything together gently until it is just mixed together.
Fill muffin cups nearly to the top. Bake at 350f until the tops are solid and they spring back when touched.
Enjoy.
(I swear I do make healthier muffins without chocolate sometimes, but I am a little chocolate crazy, so that’s that. I’ll post a recipe with nuts and fruit soon.)
