Raspberry Orange Muffins

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As a food blogger, I try my best to plan recipes for each holiday as they approach, and I often have a list of recipes to test and share for each holiday. I always have good intentions to get these recipes tested and posted weeks before the holiday arrives so my readers can thoroughly enjoy them.

Unfortunately, since I do have a life outside of blogging, things always seem to get in my way, and my good intentions go out the door. I am not sure why, but we seem to move from one holiday to the next far too quickly, and I often never seem to be able to get as organized as I would like.

Christmas is now behind us, Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and Easter is just around the corner! I guess I am going to have to learn to think like print magazines, and plan my holiday recipe testing many months before the actual holiday.

The point I am trying to make here is that Valentine’s Day is just a couple weeks away, and although I have six recipes on my list to test and post for Valentine’s Day, it looks like I’ll be lucky to get two or three completed. This recipe for raspberry muffins is one I have been hanging on to since last year.

I thought these tasty muffins with the bright red juicy berry would be a wonderful gift for a special teacher, office friend, or neighbor for Valentine’s Day, as I think far too seldom do we thank the people in our lives that we truly appreciate. Baked in colorful muffin papers and packaged in gift boxes, these muffins would be a special Valentine’s Day treat for just about anyone in your life that you want to thank and make feel special.

Of course, your family would also appreciate being told how special they are to you with a platter of moist and tasty raspberry muffins warm out of the oven any day of the year!

These muffins are both tart and sweet with the addition of raspberries and fresh oranges. They are also pretty healthy as I substituted white spelt flour for the all-purpose white flour, used olive oil in place of butter, and fat-free Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. If you cannot find spelt flour, you can use oat flour in its place.

To make your own oat flour, simply place oats in a food processor and blend until you have created a powdery flour. The yogurt, oil, orange juice, and raspberries keep these muffins very moist and tender, and the spelt flour adds great texture. I used both fresh and frozen raspberries in these muffins when I was testing them, and strangely, I think I prefer the frozen.

The frozen raspberries did not sink at into the batter as they baked, and broke down easier in the muffin allowing the juice to blend better into the crumb. To top my muffins, I rubbed some orange zest into sugar which I sprinkled onto the muffins before baking. This gave the muffins a crispy top, and enhanced the orange flavor.

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Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele 

Raspberry Orange Muffins

Raspberry Orange Muffins

Yield: 9 Large or 12 Medium Muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups White Spelt Flour (Oat Flour or All-purpose Flour Can Also Be Used)
  • 2/3 Cup Organic Brown Sugar
  • 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 2/3 Cup Fat Free Greek Yogurt
  • 1/3 Cup Light Olive Oil
  • 3 Teaspoons Grated Orange Zest
  • 1/3 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
  • 1 Large Egg
  • 1 1/2 Cups Fresh or Frozen Raspberries (See Notes Above)

Topping:

  • 1/2 Teaspoon Orange Zest
  • 1/2 Cup Sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners.
  2. Stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one bowl.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, zest, orange juice, and egg until smooth.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir together just until mixed.
  5. Stir the raspberries into the batter, then spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups.
  6. In a small bowl, rub the orange zest into the sugar until blended.
  7. Sprinkle the orange and sugar mixture over the muffins, then bake for 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Did you make this recipe?

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