Happy Monday: Orange Berry Muffins

Mondays are always a hard day for many people. Waking up and going to work after the weekend is hard, even more now that the springs has literally arrived in Oakland. This morning is a wonderful sunny morning and I feel lucky for not having to go to work on Mondays morning at least for this semester. Today, I am just not going to work at all, so I wanted to have a nice thought for all those that are waking up or already at work and bake something yummy, soft, and "springy" for Wally (and for me :-)).

I chose these orange berry muffins and I couldn't choose better! They are yummy, spongy, light and they totally smell like spring. Having breakfast with one of these muffins put me in a very good mood. Also, thus far this is the best muffin recipe I have ever tried....thanks to Dorie Greenspan, of course!

Orange Berry Muffins

Ingredients

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

About 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup blueberries - fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Decorating sugar, for topping (optional)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough - the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that’s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Makes 12 big, spongy, yummy, irresistible (ok you got the idea) muffins.

Source: Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours