Orange Berry Muffins

I felt very productive yesterday morning. At 6:45 I rolled out of bed, took a shower, and set to making muffins. I figured they could be done before I caught the bus and before my roommates woke up. What roommate wouldn't like waking up to warm muffins?

I must have been sleepy, because I read "1 cup blueberries" as "1 pint blueberries." I threw in one scant cup each of frozen raspberries and blueberries. This didn't hurt the recipe- if anything, it made it more to my taste.

The raspberries added a nice tartness and made the muffins a happy, harlequin color. The fruit really complements the buttermilk taste. These are great for freezing and reheating, as the orange flavor improves after a day or two.

I thought i'd be taking a blogging hiatus. It looks like stress from final projects is making me bake more, not less...I like to call it "productive procrastination." On a random note, don't put parchment paper in the toaster. It burns. A lot.

Orange Berry Muffins
From Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours

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.