Orange Muffins

How fun does "March Muffin Madness" sound to you??? The Kid Can Cook is hosting the madness this week and I thought it would be fun to join in.

I really like these muffins. My kids like them, too (I'll even share a story with you!) My husband likes them! That is incredible, considering there is fruit in these muffins. My husband DOES NOT eat fruit, but he eats these muffins. :)

Ian couldn't wait to sink his teeth in:

Patricia, our 4 year old, has made up her mind that she wants to have nothing to do with raisins or anything that slightly resembles them. As a matter of fact, on St. Patty's day, she didn't even try the Irish soda bread I baked even when the other kids were oohing and aahing over theirs.

This morning, when she saw me add craisins to the muffin batter, she started crying and telling me that she would only eat cereal. She was still crying 30 minutes later when I was serving the muffins. Her "no" was very clear. "I don't like craisins!" My husband was able to convince her to try 1/4 of one. If she didn't like it she could have her cereal. Before I knew it she polished the whole thing off and was asking for more!

Without further ado, I share the recipe...

Orange Muffins

• 1 whole orange (including peel)
• 3/4 cup craisins
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbs melted butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

Grease your muffin pan and preheat oven to 400°.  Wash your orange really well. Peel off a thin layer of the rind and chop finely (you don't have to be very thorough with this step). Slice the orange in eighths or quarters. Discard as much of the remaining rind as possible and any seeds. Place the orange sections, chopped peel and craisins in a food processor and pulse until coarse.

In a large bowl, mix sugar and melted butter until crumb-like. Add milk, flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla all at once. Mix just until combined (You don't want to over mix). Add orange mixture and mix until moist. Feel free to add a tablespoon or two of milk if the orange didn't produce much juice.

Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes until center is done. (Even at this high heat it could use the full 20 minutes.) Makes 12 full sized muffins.

If you have any questions about any techniques used, I'd be happy to try to help. :)