Blood Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins
Somewhere along the line, I’ve found myself enjoying eating orange cakes. I had this thing about orange flavours in baked goods and I would never choose an orange poppy seed cake. Yet here I am on the website sharing a recipe for Blood Orange and Poppy Seed muffins. I have a soft spot for blood oranges – I love the colour and the flavour and whenever they come into season, I always make sure I have a bag of them in my fridge. This mixture can also be baked as a whole cake but you’ll have to bake it for at least 35 minutes (have a look at my Lemon Yoghurt Syrup Cake to guide you).
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
3 eggs
3/4-1 cup caster sugar (I usually use 3/4 cup)
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1/4 cup blood orange juice
Zest from 1 small blood orange
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3-4 thin slices of blood orange
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (conventional oven). Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper cases.
Sift flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add salt and whisk everything together and then set aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl whisk together Greek yoghurt, blood orange zest, blood orange juice, caster sugar and eggs.
Tip the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and whisk everything together till the flour is just incorporated.
Pour the olive oil into the mixing bowl and gently whisk everything together till the olive oil is well incorporated.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases, three quarters full. If there’s too much batter, place a few extra paper cases in another muffin pan and fill them up.
Slice the blood orange slices into small wedges and place these on top of each muffin.
Bake the muffins on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes or till the tops feel firm and a skewer comes out clean.
As soon as you remove the tray from the oven, remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool on a cooling rack.
Tip: If you usually find the bottoms of the muffins brown too quickly, next time you bake them, place the filled muffin pan in an empty muffin pan before baking (aka double panning). Another option is to place a baking tray on the lowest rack to shield the bottom of the muffin pan from excessive heat.