Another edition of trying to get rid of oranges. This actually happened much more recently than the orange pound cake and I actually have a recipe! Mostly because I used a single recipe and didn’t make a frankenrecipe for myself.
In my search for more orange flavored baked goods, I came across a recipe for cinnamon streusel orange muffins. I thought that was an interesting combination. I don’t often see cinnamon and orange together. So, of course I tried it out.
They turned out pretty good. Again, the orange flavor isn’t quite where I wanted it. It was pretty faint. It was more of an aftertaste…or after…flavor…after…scent? Pretty subtle, not unpleasant, almost floral, but I really wanted the orange to be more prominent. I had added zest to the batter along with the orange juice too.
The orange and cinnamon combination was rather nice. I didn’t try and drown everything in cinnamon like I normally do. So the cinnamon added a bit of sweetness and warmth to the flavor. I rather liked it. I think it would still work if the orange flavor were stronger.
What else…? Oh, the texture was pretty good. I like adding buttermilk (powder) to things. Besides flavor, I think it improves texture. Also, since this is a muffin recipe, it is pretty important not to overmix. These muffins had a tender crumb and were a little springy in texture (a bit more than I would have expected in a muffin, but not unpleasant).
Muffins themselves were also pretty. I like the crackly top of streusel and the swirl of cinnamon in the middle of the muffin. I think the photo is from the first time I tried the muffins. Subsequent batches had even cracklier tops.
If I were to make them again, I definitely would have to augment the orange flavor. I saw that some people were trying orange juice concentrate. I think that would definitely bring an “orange” flavor to the forefront, but I don’t particularly like the taste of orange juice concentrate. Looks like another recipe in which I get to play with citrus oils.
Random moosages as I see fit. 