As I
mentioned last week, I have recently partnered with Dove Chocolate, to become
part of its TasteMakers program, which means I’ve developed a few recipes for
them. To be precise, that means I’ve teamed up with Santa Maria, who is much
better working with chocolate (there’s a reason you’ve never seen me write here
about my experiments making mole sauce: trust me, you wouldn’t want what I came
up with).
Here is her latest creation: Sunshine Muffins, which she cooked up a
few weeks ago, hence her suggestion for making them on a weekend. Now, I know it’s probably a Monday morning when you’re looking at this but it’s not as if you were about
to walk away from your computer screen and make them this second, right? Even
though it is Monday, it’s okay to dream a little bit:
What is the
best way to welcome the weekend? Warm muffins! That mix the delicious
aromas of dark chocolate and tangy oranges. If you like to make freshly
squeezed orange juice, just make a little bit extra and you'll be well on your
way to making sunshine muffins.
These
remind me of Spain, the land of Valencia oranges, very sweet with a lovely
tartness at the same time. You can use other oranges too. This
recipe is an adaptation of one made by a friend, Tamara, with whom I fell out
of touch during my tumultuous twenties. I hope she is well and still
enjoying these tasty treats!
Sunshine
Muffins
- 2 medium
Valencia oranges (wash and dry thoroughly) to make 2 Tablespoons grated orange
peel and ½ cup fresh orange juice - 2 – 3 oz.
Dove dark chocolate bars (total 6.60 oz. dark chocolate) - 2/3 cup
sugar - ½ cup
butter (1 stick) softened at room temperature - 2 eggs
- ½ cup plain
yogurt - 1 t baking
powder - ½ t baking
soda - 2 cups
flour
Preheat
oven to 375 degrees. Prep time –
about 10 minutes.
Grease
muffin cups with butter (recipe will make 12 large muffins).
Coarsely
chop chocolate. Set aside.
Beat sugar
and butter til pale and fluffy.
Beat in
eggs.
Add orange
peel.
Add yogurt,
juice, baking powder and baking soda.
Mix well (batter
will be liquid-y).
Sprinkle
flour, then chocolate over the batter.
Fold
gently, just enough to blend the flour.
Pour into
the muffin cups.
Bake 15-20
minutes or until springy to the touch.
Makes: 12
large muffins