Orange & Blueberry Spelt Muffins

These aromatic Orange and Blueberry Spelt Muffins are fluffy soft and super delicious!

The cold winter weather often brings out the inner chef in all of us. There's something very comforting about baking when it's raining outside and my latest baking experiment are these moist and fruity Orange & Blueberry Spelt Muffins. As soon as they came out of the oven appreciative requests for another batch were promptly made! I mean just look at those amazing natural colours!

For me, food should taste amazing AND support a healthy balanced lifestyle. It's great to see that people today are realising that what we eat makes a difference to both our physical and mental wellbeing. That is why I am particularly delighted with these muffins which are filled with the numerous health benefits of fresh fruits, nourishing coconut oil which is full of healthy MCTs, spelt flour - a nutritious and tummy-friendly ancient grain and nutritious almond milk making this a dairy-free recipe and quite the powerhouse of nutrients! I've also kept the sugar low but just enough to enhance the fruitiness of these amazing muffins that would be perfect as a breakfast treat, lunchbox snack, or a snack when you want a treat without the guilt!

As I am typing this up I have come to realise that I think I have something of an orange obsession in my baking. If you do too, then you are going to want to try these out as well - Orange & Macadamia Biscotti, Jaffa Crackle Cookies and freshly baked Blueberry & Orange Hot Cross Buns. (And now I am seriously hungry!)

MY PRO TIPS

Never over-mix your muffin batter or the result will be hard, dense muffins. Once you can see the wet and dry ingredients are incorporated stop mixing
Substitute choc-chips, nuts or perhaps even frozen raspberries for the blueberries if you wish to experiment!
Add 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds for another dimension of flavour
Coating the blueberries with the flour helps suspend the fruit, stopping it from sinking to the bottom of the batter
Do not overfill your muffin pans - just over 3/4 is fine (I used small paper cups for my recipe as pictured)
You will need a food processor or similar to liquify your whole orange for this recipe
Warm muffins with butter taste amazing!

YOU WILL NEED

1 whole orange (including the skin)

2/3 cup fresh orange juice (roughly juice of 2.5-3 oranges or equivalent fresh juice)

1 large egg (I used 1 x 700g/25-ounce egg for this recipe, you could also use 2 small eggs)

1/3 cup coconut oil (it should be liquid so melt first if you need to but it should not be hot when adding to batter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1/3 cup almond milk (you could use coconut, oat, regular milk)

2 cups spelt flour (you can also use regular plain/all-purpose flour/maida if you wish)

¾ cup caster/granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup frozen blueberries + 1 tablespoon spelt flour

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/375F and place 13 small muffin/cupcake pans onto a tray and set aside.

2. Cut the whole orange (with the skin) into 8 pieces, removing any seeds and cut each slice into half again so you have small chunks that can easily be broken down in your food processor.

3. Place the cut orange and orange juice into a food processor. Process until the orange is broken up into very small pieces (you want the rind to be very small).

4. Add the coconut oil, egg, vanilla and coconut extract. Process until well combined. Add the almond milk and give it one more good mix.

5. In a large bowl add your dry ingredients - the spelt flour, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarb of soda and using a whisk, mix the ingredients to combine well.

6. Add the orange juice mixture to the dry ingredients and use your whisk or a spatula to gently incorporate the ingredients until just combined.

7. In a small bowl add the blueberries and flour and toss well, ensuring the berries are lightly but evenly coated with the flour.

8. Take 3/4 of the blueberries and gently fold into the muffin batter.

9. Evenly distribute the muffin batter between the pans and then distribute the remaining blueberries evenly into each of the cases.

10. Bake for 20 minutes or until a rich golden-brown colour develops on the top. Can be served immediately or stored in an airtight container in the fridge for several days.

MAKES 13 SMALL MUFFINS

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THE REC IPE HERE

Tried this recipe? Tag @eatinstylebyferitta or #eatinstylebyferitta so I can see your creations and show you some love ♥

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