::Sunshine Muffins::

Today, I baked. I haven't done that in a while, being that Wayne and I are trying to make healthier food choices (and nachos, cookies, and cake pops don't exactly fall into the "healthy" category, do they?).

I made a recipe my mom has been making for years, from The Best of Bridge cookbooks. They're called Sunshine Muffins, and they are so moist and refreshing, I could eat them every day. They are an orange-based muffin, and lend themselves to all sorts of fruit/nut/chocolate mix-ins. While I always include semisweet chocolate chips (because chocolate and orange is my most favourite food combination in the world!), I decided today to include chopped fresh cherries. No joke, the cherries from Superstore for the past couple of weeks have been to die for. Just like picking them off the tree! Amazing.

I also decided to tweak the recipe a bit, to make it a tad healthier by reducing the sugar. With the chocolate chips and cherries, I would never have noticed the sugar was reduced (and my waistline probably didn't either). Bonus: this recipe is quick and easy.

Suffice it to say, these are not the *healthiest* version of these muffins that I could make. I could substitute some of the flour for whole wheat, throw in some wheat germ or bran, include nuts instead of chocolate, and use applesauce instead of oil. Alas, I threw caution to the wind and whipped them up the way they were meant to be made. Mostly. Recipe below.

Sunshine Muffins

1 whole orange (pref. organic), cut into 8 pieces
1/2 cup orange juice (or just another orange if you don't have O.J.)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (I use grapeseed) --> or substitute applesauce
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cherries
1/4-1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
Combine cut-up orange (that’s right – the whole orange), orange juice, egg and oil in blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. 

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add your mix-ins and combine to coat them with the flour mixture. 

Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir by hand until just combined. Pour batter into 12 muffin tins (I use silicone) and bake at 375 deg.F (190 deg.C) for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Book Reference – The Best of the Best – Vol. 1