Orange Almond Blueberry Muffins

Like most, when I first heard of the new cookbook Baked by the gentlemen who run the bakery of the same name, I was, well, smitten. I asked my husband repeatedly to pick it up for me for Christmas, and he did just that. The problem with getting a cookbook for Christmas, especially a baking book, is that you are sugared out. I had eaten more cookies, marshmallows, fudge, brittle, and candy that any one girl should and the idea of breaking out the butter and baking again was a bit nauseating.

Luckily, that feeling passes around, well, January 11th. Yesterday was supposed to be a snow day (more of a dusting with a sheet of ice day), and snow days call for muffins, scones, coffee cakes, and popovers for breakfast. I was planning on making our favorite blueberry muffin with my stash of frozen blueberries from this summer, but I was missing sour cream and milk, and didn’t have enough half and half to fudge the recipe in to a higher fat version. So I flipped open Baked, hoping they would have a muffin recipe I had possibly overlooked, and oh, did they.

Orange-Almond-Blueberry Muffins. Well, if you insist.

The recipe uses your usual muffin base of flour, sugar, egg, and milk, but fudges it from there in to a delicious, light muffin that actually feels somewhat virtuous (even though, who are we kidding, a muffin is still just cake). Two egg whites are used rather than the whole egg, and a quarter cup of almond meal is added to give that delicious, nutty background flavor. Orange zest and orange juice sit in the background and it isn’t swimming with blueberries, but provides just the right amount of familiar tartness.

I made some minor modifications to the recipe, such as not grinding my own almond meal, and using natural sugar (sugar in the raw) for a little added sugar crust, and I think these muffins would lend themselves to other additions as well. In fact, I think next time I make them, I may try my hand with whole wheat pastry flour as well, to increase the nuttiness factor that the almond meal provides.

So, in summary, yes you should buy Baked. And try these muffins too.

Orange Almond Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Baked

Zest of 1 orange, about 1 Tbs.
½ c. fresh squeezed orange juice
½ c. whole milk
2 egg whites
4 tbs butter, melted and cooled
2 c. flour
¾ c. demerara sugar, or sugar in the raw
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ c. almond meal, or ¼ c. of almonds, ground in a food processor until the consistency of flour
½ tsp salt
¾ cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and butter a 12 cup muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, almond meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add blueberries and toss to coat—this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of every muffin. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine melted butter, orange zest, juice, and egg whites. Stir, then add milk and stir well—there is a chance the milk could curdle against the orange juice, but if stirred well, and added to the dry ingredients quickly, it will be fine.

Create a well in the dry ingredient bowl and add the wet, stirring until just combined. Fill each muffin cup ¾ of the way full and bake until edges are brown and a tester comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes.