Mr. Scrummy and I have a little, let’s say, ‘discussion’ every time I bake muffins or a cake, and it goes something like this:
Mr. Scrummy: “What are you making? Smells good …”
Me: “Oh, I’m making (insert first flavour here), (insert second flavour here) & chocolate chip muffins.”
Mr. Scrummy: “Ohhhh … well, I should have known you’d put chocolate in there. Can’t you make anything without adding chocolate? I hate chocolate muffins (insert five minutes more of grumbling here).”
Me: “Oh, sorry, Sweetie. I always forget.” [slight fib] “Next time I make some cakes/muffins, I’ll make them without chocolate in.” [outright lie]
Such is the ‘lot in life’ of the husband of a food blogger, I’m afraid. It’s a terribly hard life, isn’t it?
I don’t bake as often as I cook, but when I do bake I do indeed find it very difficult to make something that doesn’t include chocolate. And I would have found it especially difficult to exclude it from these particular muffins because, well, the orange and chocolate combo rocks, right?
To be more specific, I decided to add lots of tangerine juice and zest to these muffins. I’ve never been much of a ‘fruity’ person, but to me the smell of tangerines is one of the best food aromas there are – that, along with tomatoes on the vine … swoon. But if you happen to have satsumas, mandarins or even plain old oranges hanging out in your fruit bowl rather than tangerines then by all means go ahead and use those in this recipe instead.
The muffins also have walnuts, cinnamon and nutmeg in them. The result is a lovely subtly spiced and orangey, moist and yet light crumbed muffin which is perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast or mid-morning or afternoon snack. They aren’t overly-sweet and could be easily customised a little to your taste, too. If you’re a ‘bah humbug to chocolate’ sort of person, like Mr. Scrummy, or want to keep the muffins a bit lighter, you could easily switch out the chocolate for fresh blueberries, or perhaps some dried cranberries or even plain old raisins.
I decided to finish my muffins off with a little drizzle of simple tangerine icing topped with orange zest and walnut pieces. Go ahead and miss this part out too, if you like. The muffins would still be yummy if you added a little sprinkle of brown sugar to the top before baking instead and just left it at that.
I must admit I’m looking forward to polishing these muffins off this week for snacks … all by myself, seeing as Mr. Scrummy isn’t so keen. So there’s a little useful tip for you. If there’s something you really like, add something to them that you know your partner/flatmate/family member/whoever lives with you doesn’t like.
Aren’t I wicked?
Spiced tangerine, walnut & choc chip muffins
Ingredients (UK/Australia? Click below for grams/ml)
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg or a good grating of fresh
- 2 tangerines or clementines, or satsumas or 1 bigger orange, zest and juice
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/3 cup oil I used rapeseed oil, but any oil is fine, really
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces & a few extra for decoration
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
icing
- 2/3 cup icing sugar/powdered sugar
- juice of 1 more tangerine/clementine/satsuma/orange & the zest, for decoration, if you like
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin liners.
- Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange zest to a large bowl and mix.
- Now add the orange juice to a measuring jug and pour the milk in until you have 200ml (7 fl. ounces) of liquid altogether. Add the oil and egg and whisk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined (batter that’s still a bit lumpy is OK- don’t overmix).
- Fold in the walnut pieces and chocolate chips and fill the muffin liners with the mixture. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the muffins are well risen, golden and cooked in the middle.
- Let cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile, make the icing, if using. Simply squeeze the orange juice into the icing sugar, little by little, until you have a fairly thick icing. Spread a little onto the top of each muffin when cool. Finally, sprinkle with a little orange zest and a few of the extra walnut pieces, if you like.
Notes
Nutrition
Here are a couple more recipes for you from the blog featuring that winning orange-choc combo:
5 ingredient raw chocolate orange bars
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Ania says
These were absolutely yummy! I doubled the recipe, went the blueberry instead of chocolate (my ‘mr. scrummy’s’ preference) and must have mucked something up as the batter was really runny. Didn’t seem to have enough ‘add-ins’ for the amount of batter – so had a brain snap and put a punnet of raspberries in as well. The spice, berries, orange and walnuts were a wonderful combination. The muffins were pretty lush day 1 – gooey bottoms – but set after some hours and were still amazing 2 days later! Hopefully I can recreate my mistake again! Thanks for a fab recipe! Btw, your Greek potatoes are to die for and the focaccia is on repeat….apparently we don’t need to shop for bread anymore lol.
Helen says
Hi Ania! Sounds like you stumbled onto a winner! It’s a while since I’ve made these to be honest so I don’t remember how runny the batter was, but it sounds like you nailed the recipe anyhow and that they came out pretty delicious. I remember they are nice ‘Christmassy’ muffins. So happy you enjoyed them! And your comments about the potatoes and focaccia have made my day. Thank you so much for your feedback and Merry Christmas! 🙂
Chris @ Shared Appetite says
I didn’t know that not putting chocolate into a baked good could be an actual request. Like, don’t we all want chocolate in everything?!?!! Hahaha, well at least you got to down them all yourself!!
Helen says
lol … yup, I didn’t know that either until I met the hubs! 🙂
Shelby @ Go Eat and Repeat says
This is such a cute twist on chocolate chip muffins! I bet the tangerine adds a really nice freshness to them!
Helen says
Hi, Shelley! Thanks so much for passing by and taking the time to comment. 🙂 I must admit these are my current fave muffins. Glad you like them!
Kathleen | HapaNom says
Oh my, Helen! These muffins looks insanely delicious! I just love all of the incredible flavors you have here – citrus and chocolate are always a winning combination!
Helen says
Hi, kathleen … and thank you! I must admit these were rather a hit!
Laura says
Helen, these look splendid. And did you know walnuts help cut down on belly fat? They really do. Such a unique flavor combination. We’re all getting over the stomachflu here (blah) and one way we celebrate is by making something tasty when it’s finally over! It’s always nice to get your appetite back to and feel like baking and even cooking again! Thanks for sharing such a unique recipe.
Helen says
Hi, Laura! Sorry to hear that you haven’t been feeling so great! At least Spring and hopefully the end of this nasty bugs isn’t too far away now! I’m really happy that you like the sound of these tasty muffins … and thanks for the info about the walnuts, too. I certainly didn’t know that, but what a great excuse for me to make another batch of these! Have a great evening!
Lori @ TheHealthMinded.com says
Well, anything citrus and I’m in! What a treat these would be if I would only get on my baking hat and do it! I don’t bake much lately, but my family would love it if I surprised them with these. So pretty, Helen!
Helen says
Hello, Lori! I’m a bit of a citrus-lover, too, and love adding orange-flavoured things to baked goods … and especially chocolate, as I said in my post 😉 I really hope you do get that baking hat on and have a go at these some time!