Good Morning Muffins, adapted from The Pioneer Woman

By Foodiewife

I saw this recipe, originally posted on the popular food blog "The Pioneer Woman". I adapted the recipe, slightly by using both pastry flour (whole wheat) and unbleached flour. These Good Morning muffins were very quick and simple to make. The fresh squeezed orange juice and orange marmalade gives a just notes of citrus. The special topping of sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg bakes to a nice golden crunch. These are a keeper!

I'll show you how to make these on my blog at: http://foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com/2010/06/good-morning-muffins-adapted-from.html

Ingredients

• Topping Ingredients:
• Muffin Batter
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 3 cups unbleached flour
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 cups orange marmalade
• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon (plus 1 teaspoon) melted butter
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• Wheat germ, optional

Details

Servings 18
Preparation time 25mins
Cooking time 55mins
Adapted from foodiewife-kitchen.blogspot.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375°F.

With a food processor, process the flour, sugar and baking powder, to "aerate" the dry ingredients. Or, you can sift together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Place in a mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into small pieces, and pulse it into the dry ingredients-- until crumbly. This takes about a dozen short pulses. Or, you can use a pastry cutter to mix in butter (or butter/shortening if desired).

Mix marmalade, orange juice, and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour into dry ingredients.

Beat eggs and pour into the bowl. Mix all ingredients together gently, using fewer than 10 large strokes.

In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients.

Spray the muffin pan with non-stick baking spray. Fill muffin pans with batter. An ice cream scoop makes this easy to do. Sprinkle 1 heaping teaspoon of topping ingredients over each muffin.

Sprinkle wheat germ over the top for extra crunch.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until done.

Using a paring knife, loosen each muffin. Carefully move each move at an angle for a few minutes-- this ensures that you won't have soggy muffin bottoms! Next, remove the muffins from the pan and cool on wire rack. Eat warm or at room temperature.