Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Banana Oat Muffins with a Blood Orange Glaze

Banana Oat Muffins with a Blood Orange Glaze | www.therisingspoon.com

I promised I'd be back soon with more blood orange recipes, remember? Well here's one more...that I came up with last night while I was trying to fall asleep. 

Of course I've had two other blood orange recipes floating around my head for the past few weeks. 

But no, those weren't good enough. 

It needed banana. 

Cause I had four lovely ones browning on my counter until this afternoon when I made these here muffins. 

I generally make lower-sugar muffins and avoid baking foods like cookies, cupcakes, etc. simply because I have no self control and will eat them all within a few days. 

Also, my boyfriend doesn't care for sweets...so that only leaves me. 

If I still lived in Kansas City that'd be a different story. I'd have friends, family and coworkers to push 'em off on. 

Not so much here. My grandma lives 2 hours away and I have some awesome cousins that live 30-45 minutes away that I have not yet visited since I moved here nearly a year ago. (I really need to remedy that. I've been such a hermit.)

Anyways, back to the muffins. Since I was using blood oranges (seasonal ingredient), I made an exception on the sugar front and opted for a glaze. 

I almost never use powdered sugar (a.k.a. confectioners sugar). However, I do support the everything in moderation motto. So, if I have it a few times a year I'll be okay. 

It was so worth it! Orange and banana pair beautifully together. 

That said, if you don't have access to blood oranges--no worries. Use whatever citrus you fancy. Navel, clementine, valencia, tangerine, lemon, grapefruit, etc. I'm sure they'll all taste great. 

Also...if you're worried about sugar and wan't to leave the glaze off, be my guest. Just make sure to use some of the citrus zest in the muffins. That way you don't miss out on the flavor. :)


Banana Oat Muffins with a Blood Orange Glaze | www.therisingspoon.com

Banana Oat Muffins with Blood Orange Glaze
Moist banana oat muffins that are lower in fat than normal banana muffins. This is achieved by substituting unsweetened organic applesauce instead of vegetable oil. The addition of cinnamon, vanilla extract and grated blood orange zest give the muffin a lot of flavor. After cooling, it's drizzled with a blood orange glaze for a sweet and citrusy kick. 
| Original Recipe & Photograph by The Rising Spoon | © Elaina Newton 2013
Yield: approximately 12 muffins

Ingredients

For the muffins:
4 small & overripe bananas, peeled and mashed
1/2 cup of organic sugar (like homemade vanilla sugar or this 
Dark Muscovado Sugar)
1/2 cup of organic unsweetened applesauce*
2 eggs (look for pastured eggs or buy them straight from the farmer)
1 cup of unbleached organic flour (or use whatever flour you prefer)
1/2 cup organic old fashioned oats
2 1/2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract (get my homemade recipe)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
(I recommend Pink HimalayanCeltic or Utah sourced salt)
1/2 teaspoon of grated blood orange zest


For the glaze: 
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of blood orange juice (from a fresh blood orange)

*If you dislike applesauce or have apple allergies, use 1/4 cup of cooking oil and 1/4 cup of water instead.

Recommended Equipment
stainless steel muffin pan

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-count muffin tin with butter or oil. If using muffin liners, insert into tin and grease those instead. In a mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients (sugar, flour, oats, baking powder, spices, & salt) and stir. Peel the bananas, drop them into another large bowl and mash with a fork. Add the rest of the wet ingredients  (applesauce, eggs, vanilla), plus the blood orange zest, to the mashed banana and give it a quick stir. Slowly stir the dry mix into the wet mix and combine completely. Fill each muffin tin equally until all the batter is used up. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick or fork stuck into the middle of a muffin comes out clean (with no wet batter). 


Let the muffins cool completely, then combine the powdered sugar and blood orange juice in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Using a fork, poke several holes in the top of each muffin. Drizzle each with an equal amount of the glaze. You'll notice that the glaze will disappear through the holes. It's falling to the center where it'll be soaked up by the muffin. Add more glaze if you want plenty of sweet blood orange flavor.


Notes & Tips
If you use larger bananas, you'll have to cook the muffins longer, or you might try adding more flour. 


Use whatever flour you have on hand. The ratio I used was my own preference. You can go with all-purpose, whole wheat, etc. Using only whole wheat flour will likely make the muffins more dense, though. Keep that in mind.



More Recipes from The Rising Spoon:





Real Food Resources

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From Scratch: Easy Recipes for Traditionally Prepared Whole-Food Dishes 

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Question for Discussion: What's your favorite type of glaze to pair with sweets?

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