Orange and poppy seed muffins

Sunday mornings usually follow a routine in my home - wake up, read for a bit, get up to make a big brekky of bacon and poached eggs and bake. It wouldn't be Sunday without baking of some sort! On Sundays, I like to bake things that require no specific shopping - I like to create beautiful and delicious things with whatever is in my pantry and fridge and for last Sunday, that meant something orange as I had half a dozen languishing about. I also had excess cream cheese frosting leftover from another baking expedition the day before, and so I thought that orange and poppy seed muffins (with or without cream cheese frosting) would be perfect!

Ingredients

3 oranges, zested and juice squeezed
125g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
3/4 cup skim milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius and line a muffin tin with paper cases.
2. In a small bowl, pour 1/4 cup of skim milk and add the poppy seeds. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl, place the flour, butter, sugar, eggs, orange zest and juice and the remainder of the skim milk.
4. Add in the poppy seed and milk mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until all combined - make sure that you don't overmix!
5. Spoon into the muffin cases until three quarters full and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. You'll find that at that time, the tops will be crunchy but the insides gloriously light and fluffy.
6. Remove from the oven, allow to cool on a wire rack and then dust with icing sugar (or as I did, frost with leftover cream cheese frosting!).

As you can see, this is a fool proof and insanely easy baking recipe. The smell that permeated the house from these babies were amazing, and I loved that the muffins were not overly sweet. These will make perfect morning tea snacks for the work week ahead and also freeze well. If you're aiming to freeze them, let them cool to room temperature, then seal them individually in zip lock bags, making sure all air is expelled. Freeze for up to a month, and when you want them, take them down to the fridge to defrost overnight. These would also be good zapped quickly in the microwave with a dab of butter!

Fast, easy and delicious - and it required no special shopping for me. This is the ultimate easy Sunday morning baking recipe!

thesuzchef x