Blood Orange-Chocolate Chip Muffins

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Citrus season is well under way and I don’t know about you but I can’t get enough. We’ve been eating cuties like they’re going out of style and squeezing fresh orange juice on the weekends. Last week I spied some blood oranges for the first time this season at my local grocery store. Have you have had a blood orange? They are slightly tart and the most brilliant hue of red you’ve ever seen. They make a mean martini and are absolutely perfect in this quick muffin recipe.

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I new instantly that I would be pairing the blood orange with chocolate. I love the chocolate oranges that always show up around the holidays. Sharp citrus is such a nice balance to rich creamy chocolate. I choose to go with an extra dark chocolate chunk type chip but I’m sure any chocolate will do here. Even bad chocolate is good chocolate, right? Or at least edible.

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The coarse sugar-orange zest mixture on top of the muffins is kind of what makes these muffins the bomb. It’s a trick I learned from my old friend Dorie Greenspan, who I actually don’t know at all but I love her anyway and like to think she feels the same. Rubbing the zest between your fingers with the sugar releases the oils and creates the most fragrant, lovely citrus sugar.

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We’ve had a house full of guests and these muffins didn’t last long. When you’re skiing hard everyday you can justify a chocolate filled muffin for breakfast. Or that’s what I tell myself anyway! We’ve finally been blessed with some snow and I’ve been trying to get as much skiing in as possible. It’s a tough job balancing, cooking, snowboarding and being a wife and mom but I’m doing my best to keep at it!

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As always, happy baking and if you’re lucky enough to live in Utah or Colorado, happy skiing too!

Blood Orange and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • zest of 2 blood oranges, separated
  • 1/2 cup fresh blood orange juice (from about 1 large orange)
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon greek yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 tablespoon coarse sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 375F degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk sugar, egg, vegetable oil, zest from one orange, orange juice, milk, greek yogurt and vanilla until well combined. Add flour mixture to egg/sugar mixture and stir just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. In a small bowl, combine the coarse sugar with the zest from other blood orange and rub the zest and sugar together with two fingers to release the oils in the zest and mix into the sugar. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with orange zest and coarse sugar mixture. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and muffins are cooked all the way through. Remove muffin pan from oven and place on wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan; cool completely on wire rack. Makes 12 standard muffins.