Try It Out Tuesdays: Orange Cornmeal Muffins

Hello everyone!

I just finished baking these muffins about 20 minutes ago. I’m glad they turned out better than the ones I made over the weekend. I tried one and then my mom tried one. We both liked the fact that they were so soft and oh-so-moist. The weekend muffins (total failure!) were not as soft or as moist as today’s muffins. I tweaked a few things here and there, and tried out today’s version.

I’m content with the muffins but I am still not as happy as I should be. I think the culprit are the oranges. The oranges really have NO flavour. We’re pretty lucky to have oranges in the middle of winter, but, are yummy oranges too much to ask for? I’m sure the oranges were picked too early to be tasty, yet early enough to make the voyage from Chile to Canada and still be eatable. I’m sure these muffins would taste A LOT better had I made them in the summer (I believe the oranges then found at grocery stores come from Canada and from our neighbours to the South).

 

The recipe makes 12 muffins.

Muffins

• 1-1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup quinoa flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup melted butter (non-dairy, or use margarine instead)
• 1/2 cup orange juice (I used 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice and 1/4 cup store bought orange juice)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 orange (reserve 1/2 tsp for glaze)
• 3/4 cup anise water + 1 to 2 tbsp for glaze
• handful of coconut flakes (about 1/4 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and grease muffin pan.
2. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl (flours, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
3. Whisk together wet ingredients in smaller bowl (oil, melted butter, orange juice, vanilla extract, anise water).
4. Add orange zest and coconut flakes to wet ingredients.
5. Incorporate wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well.
6. Scoop out mixture into prepared muffin pan. Fill up to 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle of centre muffin comes out clean.

Glaze

• 3/4 cup icing sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1 to 2 tbsp anise water

1. Add icing sugar, salt and zest to small bowl.
2. Whisk in orange juice and 1/2 tbsp anise water .
3. Add anise water slowly until desired consistency is achieved.

 

My glaze is quite runny. I wanted it to cover the muffins slightly. I’m not a fan of a layer of glaze on top of my pastries. Mainly because I find it makes the pastry WAY too sweet, but also because I have extremely sensitive teeth and glaze makes my teeth vibrate. Sad, I know.

*Notes*

If using ONLY freshly squeezed orange juice, then you might need to add a bit of sugar to the muffins. I would say about 1/2 cup if making glaze or 3/4 cup without glaze.

If you’re not a fan of quinoa flour, then don’t use it; you wont love the muffins. I would say substitute it with another kind of flour – spelt would be fine.  If you are a fan of quinoa, then you wont mind the taste. I don’t 🙂 Actually, I think the coconut flakes and the grittiness of the cornmeal really make this recipe a lot better.

I can’t wait to have these muffins for breakfast tomorrow. Pastries taste a lot better when had with a cup of coffee. Yum!

Thanks so much for stopping by and take care!