These light and fluffy muffins with a cheery compound butter are like a spot of sunshine on your plate … Orange Poppyseed Muffins with Orange Maple Butter.
Orange Poppyseed Muffins
In the wintry months of January and February, I go through bags and bags of fresh oranges. So naturally, my thoughts turned to how I could bring the flavour of orange to a muffin. Citrus and poppyseeds seem to be a classic pairing, and I’ve always admired the visual contrast and the crunch that those tiny black seeds bring to a recipe. I knew from the get-go I wanted to create an orange poppyseed muffin.
What I didn’t know was how challenging it would be to achieve a final result I was happy with. The first version I tried included bran, but it was simply too distracting, stealing the show from the poppyseeds. In the second version the kefir that I used instead of regular milk was too assertive, dulling the orange flavour, and without the bran the muffin was too dense. The third time was apparently the charm, although I didn’t realize my Goldilocks moment at first.
This time, I used regular milk instead of kefir, and substituted buckwheat flour for a quarter of the all-purpose. I added in more leavening power via some baking soda to give the muffins more lift. The result was a light and fluffy muffin. That was a surprise to me …. I’ve come up with many muffin recipes over the years, and they all have a certain heft and richness to them — not dense but substantial. I wasn’t sure I was happy with such a muffin lightweight. I pondered making yet another version, but then a brainwave struck …
Orange Maple Butter
I realized that I could make a complementary compound butter that would not only amp up the orange flavour, but also add more substance. So I quickly blended some room temperature butter with orange zest and a splash of maple syrup, and voila … the richness I was craving.
Not only are these muffins delicious to eat, but that lovely orange-speckled butter adds a touch of sunshine to this wholesome breakfast or snack.
Let’s Make Muffins!
These light and fluffy orange-flavoured muffins jazzed up with poppyseeds are delightful as they are, but the orange maple butter takes them to the next level and adds beautifully sunshiny colour.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 whole seedless orange, well scrubbed
- 1/2 cup granulated cane sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tbsp poppyseeds
- 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 2 tsp maple syrup
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Preheat the oven to 400°F and place 12 paper liners in a muffin tray.
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Measure the two flours, baking powder and baking soda into a small bowl, stir to combine and set aside.
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Zest the orange, setting aside 1 teaspoon of it to be used in the compound butter. Peel the orange, removing as much of the pith as you can. Break the orange into sections and use a small food processor to roughly chop it. (Or, you could use a knife to roughly chop it in a shallow bowl so you retain the juices.)
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Place the sugar, egg, oil and milk in a larger mixing bowl and mix or whisk until well incorporated and the sugar has begun to dissolve. Stir in the orange zest, chopped orange and poppyseeds.
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Stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, until just well combined.
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Evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until the muffins are risen and browned and a tester comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes or so on a rack, then remove the muffins to the rack. You just may want to eat them warm!
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While the muffins are baking, use a fork or small whisk to combine the room temperature butter, orange zest and maple syrup. Place in a small serving dish.
More Muffin Magic
If you’re in the mood for muffins, here are a few of my favourites from over years, starting with my all-time favourite muffins adapted from an Anne Lindsay recipe, Oat Bran Banana Muffins. For other flavour combinations, I offer blueberry and lemon as well as coconut mango. There’s a muffin for every taste!
This is interesting next time at the grocery will get poppy seed.
That’s good to hear … let me know how you like them!
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