Orange Scented Blueberry Crumb Muffins

These orange scented blueberry crumb muffins are so fragrant and tasty! The orange peels definitely brightened up the flavors and added a nice citrus-y tone. Since citrus fruits are heavily treated with chemicals, take extra steps in making sure your peels are clean!

Here's a couple ways on how to remove pesticides from your citrus fruits that I came across:

1. wash fruit with a 3:1 water vinegar mixture
2. spray fruit with vinegar and rinse with water
3. soak fruit with 3:1 water vinegar mixture for 10-20 minutes and rinse with water

(Source)

Will definitely be following one of these methods to make sure my food are not poisonous!

Orange Scented Blueberry Crumb Muffins
recipe adapted from A Sweet Pea Chef
makes 10 muffins

FOR THE MUFFINS:

1 1/2 cups (169.5g) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 egg, at room temperature
2/3 cup milk
3/4 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest
1 cup fresh blueberries, washed and de-stemmed
softened butter to grease muffin tin

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:
*enough for two batches; feel free to half if only making one batch!

1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (55g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (37.7g) white whole wheat flour
6 Tbsp (85g) unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
chopped walnuts, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Butter muffin tin or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine oil, egg, milk and orange zest.
5. Add, all at once, to the dry flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. The mixture will be a bit lumpy and thick. If it seems to thick, add 1 Tbsp oil or milk to thin, though only if necessary.
6. Add fresh blueberries and gently fold into mixture. Do not over-mix.
7. To make crumb topping, combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, cubed butter and ground cinnamon in a small mixing bowl.
8. Use fork or fingers to combine. Mixture will be lumpy.
9. Pour or spoon muffin batter into buttered (or lined) muffin tin, filling until almost full.
10. Generously sprinkle crumb topping over the tops of each muffin cup.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden brown.
12. Remove from heat and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

Even though it was almost 9pm, I just couldn't resist trying one fresh out of the oven! The muffins were definitely best when fresh. The crumbs were delicately crisp, and the interior was moist and tender. Overnight, the muffins were a little more sturdier but still retained most of their crispiness and moistness.

I added walnuts last minute to the top of the muffins since I was afraid that the crumbles would be soggy and not crisp. My worries went away as soon as I saw how golden brown they came out of the oven. The addition of walnuts didn't hurt tho. Next time, I would also up the blueberries to maybe 1.5 cups.

Taste: 4 stars out of 5

Love the sweetness the crumbles added. Overall, sweetness was just right!

Texture: 4.5 stars out of 5

Using AP flour would probably yield a more spongy and soft muffin; white whole wheat flour gave it a more coarse but still moist crumbs. Love the crumbles.

*calculated with half batch crumb topping