Orange Blossom Muffins

These floral treasures are perfectly balanced between sweet and flowery with an extra layer of complexity from olive oil. The muffins have an unexpected delightful crunch that goes so well with its tender crumb.

These muffins have a journey from idea and completion. I was donating a basket of baked goods for a fundraiser for the women’s soccer team at Harris Stowe State University. While my baskets are never the same, I follow somewhat of a formula. Something relatively large like a pie or coffee cake, two kinds of cookies, and two other treats. This time it was muffins and cinnamon sticks. 

I like to balance the expected with the unexpected. It’s my way of trying to get people to try new things while appealing to the masses in the hopes more people will bid. This time the unexpected would be orange blossom muffins. 

During the initial bake, I knew changes were needed. I put my neighbor on the task for suggestions on how to make it better. Chris gives me actual feedback – always find those people because that’s how your cooking will improve. One thing he suggested didn’t speak to me was to increase the sugar in the recipe.

I was hesitant because one of the reasons I love the original blueberry muffin recipe (that this was based on) is that it is only slightly sweet and perfect when slathered with butter and eaten warm.

I wrestled with the idea but was like, well, Chris has never led me astray before so I might as well try. I also worried whoever would take the muffins home wouldn’t warm them or put butter on them so I figured a sweeter muffin would be better. He was right. The extra sweetness balanced the floral really well while making a cold muffin moister.

The last tweak was unintentional. I woke up at 4 am to finish the bakes before work. I poured ½ c of oil into the bowl and soon I got the deep complex aroma of OLIVE OIL. Ah yah yah yah! This is one of the reasons I always say smell your ingredients.  I did a quick calculation of ingredients in my mind and I knew I had enough to make muffins and I can easily make these muffins from start to finish in less than 30 minutes. I’m not going to stress.

Instead of trashing the batter, I baked them. I was a little concerned because olive oil can be overpowering and I had trouble getting enough orange blossom flavor (shocking because it’s usually very dominant). I knew there are olive oil cakes (never made one) that people love so it can work with sweets. Y’all the olive oil in these muffins are like magic. It adds depth to the flavor while letting the orange blossom shine.

Orange Blossom Muffins Ingredients
Makes 12 small (not mini) muffins

topping
¼ c sugar
1 ½ tsp orange zest
⅓ tsp cardamon
¾ tsp almond extract

batter
2 c AP flour
½ tsp salt
1 Tbl baking powder
1 egg
½ c sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
6 Tbl orange blossom water
½ c milk
½ c olive oil

Orange Blossom Muffin Directions
Heat the oven to 425.

Grease a 12 - ¼ c muffin pan.

In a small bowl, mix 4 Tbl sugar, 1 ½ tsp orange zest, and ¼ tsp cardamon until well blended. Add ¾ tsp of almond extract and mix until incorporated.

In a medium bowl add 2 c AP flour, ½ tsp salt, and 1 Tbl baking powder. Stir until combined.

In a medium bowl whisk 1 egg with a fork until the white and yellow of the egg are fully combined.

Add ½ c sugar, ½ tsp vanilla extract, and 6 Tbl orange blossom water. Whisk until the sugar dissolves.

Pour in ½ c milk and ½ c olive oil into the sugar mixture. Give it a quick stir. It will look separated.

Dump the flour mixture into the wet ingredients all at once. Gently stir or fold in the flour with a spatula until the flour is hydrated but remains lumpy.

Evenly divide the batter into the muffin pan. Top the muffins with the sugar mixture.

Bake 8 minutes and rotate the pan 180 degrees. Make 6-8 more minutes until the tops are starting to brown and toothpick comes out almost clean.

Remove the muffins from the pan. Serve with butter.

Notes
If your muffin pan isn’t ¼ c muffins, use what you have but adjust the cooking time.

If you don’t have orange blossom water, use 1 Tbl almond extract and ¾ c of milk.