Today I bring you tender, tangerine-hued muffins packed with orange juice and pumpkin. They are absolutely heavenly. And I would encourage you with enthusiasm if you decided to throw in a heaping cup of fresh cranberries, because they’d be right at home in there.
These muffins make an excellent every-day breakfast but would be right at home on a special holiday table, too.
I’m very grateful to have Tropicana® Canada as a partner, and I’ve collaborated with them on this recipe. Tropicana Pure Premium® 100% Orange Juice pictured is an excellent choice for many reasons, but here are the most important to me: a) it tastes delicious and b) it contains only one thing, and that’s oranges (no sugar, colours, flavours, additives, preservatives – just the juice squeezed from fresh Florida citrus, nothing else.)
Before the muffins are popped in the oven, I like to adorn them each with a thin slice of fresh orange. That’s a great food styling and presentation tip for baked goods: save some of the mix-ins (or add something that suggests what’s inside) to put on top before baking. Optional, of course, but pretty, right?
The recipe yields 12 plump, beautiful, orange-y muffins – perfect for freezing or sharing. I share with my neighbours often – it’s a fast way to make new friends. Food is love, people.
After I part with a plateful while still warm, I stow most of them in the freezer – they’re just like fresh-baked after 30 seconds in the microwave. Perfect for busy fall mornings, especially as the holidays ramp up.
Thank you, dear readers, for supporting me in my collaborations with the hand-picked sponsors who keep the Foodess kitchen running!
Pumpkin-Orange Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 cups 13.5 oz all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt or 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1 ½ cups Tropicana Pure Premium® 100% Orange Juice
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
- ½ cup melted butter
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- ½ orange thinly sliced and quartered, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Prepare 18 of the cups in two standard muffin tins by greasing or lining with paper muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the orange juice, pumpkin, butter, oil, vanilla and eggs. Add this to the flour mixture, then fold the ingredients together with a rubber spatula, working gently and stopping when batter is just combined.
- Lightly spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups. Top each with a quarter slice of orange, if desired. Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating pans once halfway through. Muffins are done when tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed in the centres (or a toothpick tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs). Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Very good. Made 2/3 of a batch. Used 7 ounces peeled diced Fresh mandarin oranges. Came out well. Pumpkin, butter, veg oil, sugar, flour, eggs, cinnamon cloves ginger allspice and nutmeg.
I really tinkered with recipe and by using fresh oranges and water. Recipe called for only orange juice, not orange segments. Didn’t have orange juice so used water.
Hi Catherine, glad it worked for you with those adjustments! I like the idea of little bursts of fresh orange throughout. Nice!