orange muffins

I got a mini-muffin tin for Christmas, and this morning I took it for a test run with a recipe for Orange Muffins that I found a while back over at Cafe Johnsonia. Oh my, were they heavenly! I'm going to have to make another batch soon because apparently I have a new addiction to feed.




Orange Muffins

1 cup sugar
juice of one orange, about 1/2 cup
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I never have real butter at home, so I used margarine; they turned out fine)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
3/4 cup sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Grease or line muffin pans. Mix 1 cup sugar with orange juice. (To juice the orange, I used my awesome newish melamine reamer.) Set aside.

Place 1 cup sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the orange zest and rub it between your fingers until it is sandy and wet. (If this doesn't make you feel like a professional chef, I don't know what will.) Add the butter. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Sift or whisk the dry ingredients together. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat, followed by half of the sour cream. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture, beat, and add the remaining sour cream. Add the last of the flour mixture and beat. The batter will be very stiff.

Transfer the batter to prepared muffin pan. For regular muffins you will use almost exactly 1/4 cup of batter. Mini-muffins will take 1-2 tsp of batter.

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes (9-11 minutes for mini-muffins), until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Muffins will be lightly golden. Allow muffins to cool before removing from pan.

If desired, dip the tops of the muffins in the OJ/sugar mixture. (Desire it: seriously, this sweet glaze is the icing on the cake...or muffin. Whatever, but it's oh-so tasty.)

Yields: 12 regular, 36 mini

***

In other, totally unrelated news...did you know that New Yorkers are a prime target audience for the Utah ski industry? I would have never thought, but judging by the 5,000 commercials advertising powdery snow and a hopping night scene on the Park City slopes that I've seen over the last few days, they must be. But I suppose, like the commercials inform me, there are 48 daily flights from NYC to SLC, six of which arrive before noon, so apparently it's not as far away as one might initially think. I've never skied before in my life (yes, I am a Provo girl, born and raised), but these 30-second snippets sure have a way of making me homesick. We need a tax return so I can sneak away for a visit.