Amazing muffins made with a whole orange, peel and all.
1 whole orange
1/2 cup orange juice
1 large egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 400F; spray a muffin tin (12) with non-stick cooking spray. Cut the orange into quarters, leaving the peel on. Remove seeds if there are any. Put orange quarters in food processor along with orange juice and process until pureed. Add egg, oil and applesauce into food processor and combine; pour into large bowl. Combine dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add all at once to orange mixture. Stir to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes; remove from oven and let stand in tin for 5 minutes before removing muffins.
I really enjoy the combination of orange and chocolate. That’s why I always love getting chocolate oranges for Christmas. So I thought these muffins were delicious. I was a little skeptical about keeping the orange peel on, but it really does work nicely. It gave the muffins such a vibrant taste of orange. The boys really liked these muffins too. In fact, I have a video clip to prove that Cole liked them very much!
-Recipe adapted from Food.com
Food and Whine 
Yum! I love orange, can’t get enough of it, so a whole orange sounds great to me! Cole is funny: very very very ….
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oh how cool
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Oh yum! i LOVEEEEE chocolate oranges…..gotta try these!Carina :)PS Tell cole…Auntie Carina liked his video very, very, very, very, very, very much!
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These muffins are delicious! I did make a few changes, but I’m sure the original recipe is probably even better – I didn’t have any chocolate chips so I just left those out. I also omitted the applesauce and sugar, and instead I added 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup milk. Oh, and I used all whole wheat pastry flour. Then, I made a glaze with powdered sugar, oj and orange zest and dipped the tops of each (mini) muffin. My husband thinks they have a nice “holiday” flavor to them and I agree – the orange peel gives them a little spice that’s really perfect for this time of year. 🙂
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I’ve made this recipe gluten free and its delicious. The orange flavour really comes through. Thanks!!
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These sound both delicious and healthy! Did you use unsweetened applesauce or sweetened?
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Just to be perfectly clear – this was made with a mandarin orange, right? The pith amounts are really different, so I wanted to be sure before i tried…
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It’s been years since I made these but I’m pretty sure I used mandarin.
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