Blood Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins
You guuuuuys. Two words: blood oranges.
#cantstopwontstop
Seriously though. That time I went through 6 pounds of blood oranges in a weekend? I think I have an addiction. An addiction TO VITAMIN C, SUCKAHS.
Seeeriously seriously though? I think I’ve lost all of my marbles. Like, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone found me a corner, rocking back and forth, whimpering about the MBTA recovery schedule and covered head to toe in blood orange juice sometime in the near future.
gahhhh this winter! Make it stop!
So as I was polishing off my third blood orange & bourbon cocktail last weekend (I blame Mother Nature for keeping us cooped up inside!), I realized that I hadn’t ventured too far outside of the booze department with my blood orange experimentation. So I did a little pinterest searching and came across a recipe that I just KNEW was going to be a winner.
Has that ever happened to you? You’re just flipping through a magazine or playing on pinterest, and you stumble upon a recipe that you are absolutely CONFIDENT will be a winner? It doesn’t happen for me all that often, but when it does, wellll… I miiiiight go a little overboard and make said recipe upwards of six times in a two week span. You know, just to make sure that it really IS as awesome as I first thought.
That’s normal, right?
Irregahdless, you know my affinity with all things breakfast-related, so when I found this muffin recipe, I didn’t even hesitate. I hopped right over to the kitchen and started squeezing away at any remaining blood oranges in sight.
Unfortunately, I’m not great at following directions (shocking) and made some changes right off the bat (double-y shocking, I know). I substituted white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour, and coconut sugar for the granulated. Then I switched out the butter for olive oil (heart healthy – YAY!) and voila!
These muffins are crunchy & delicious on the outside, yet soft & airy on the inside. You definitely get the bright, citrus flavor from the blood oranges, but it’s not overpowering by any means. Also, the dark chocolate chips are a must! hellooooo antioxidants.
(and BONUS! I’ve successfully tested a gluten-free version that is equally as delicious as its gluten-full counterpart! Check out the full recipe below for details.)
Peter said that these remind him of the chocolate oranges that come out around Christmastime. You know, the ones you had to smash on the table in order to break apart the ‘orange’ slices? I’m pretty sure Santa put a chocolate orange in my stocking every year as a child. and I’m alsoooo pretty sure that Santa would love these muffins.
With a giant glass of homemade almond milk on the side, of course.
- 1¾ cup white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- zest from 3 blood oranges
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin tin or line with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients; toss in dark chocolate chips and mix well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together wet ingredients; add to dry ingredients and fold in using a wooden spoon. Mix until just combined.
- Spoon batter into the muffin pan, making sure to fill each cup to the top. You should be able to fill 9 or 10 muffin cups, but no more than that. and don't be skimpy on the batter - you will want to end up with giant muffin tops!
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Muffins tops will be golden brown.
Recipe Adapted From: White on Rice Couple | Blood Orange Chocolate Chunk Muffins
My blood orange supply is running kinda low these days and I think I’ve bought out every store in Massachusetts at this point… but never fear! I’ll probably choose a new food obsession in a week or two. Stay tuned! :)
Oh, and I started the 21 Day Fix today, soooo there’s that. Don’t expect to see an overload of booze and/or baked goods on my instagram feed for the next three weeks. Instead, there will probably be lots of colored containers, shakeology recipes and photos of me laying facedown on my yoga mat, with my workouts playing on repeat in the background.
Yup. Thiiiis should be fun.
