Would you believe I’ve never made “homemade” blueberry muffins?  Isn’t that so ridiculous?

I mean…I’ve made the boxed stuff with the “real blueberries” a dozen or so times over the years, but have never actually made real blueberry muffins.

So, as I’ve been trying to embrace the new, better, baking A Sweet Pea Chef, I decided it was time to make some real blueberry muffins.  Some orange-scented blueberry muffins.  Yum!

Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE regular ‘ol fresh blueberry muffins.  But, I thought I’d add some “specialness” into these muffins for my own twist by including some fresh orange zest. 

The orange zest gives the muffins a slight hint of citrus, while the blueberries clearly remain the star, as they should be.

As usual, I had my official taste tester (AKA Dustin) help me out with these muffins to let me know what he thought.  Mind you: Dustin typically dislikes anything “orange-scented,” so I knew was taking quite a gamble with this recipe.  Luckily, he loved my Orange-Scented Blueberry Muffins — so much so that he said they were the best blueberry muffins he’s ever had.   Did you catch that?  Ever.  Had.   Woohoo!

I also added a little sweet crumb topping right before the muffins went into the oven.  The topping leaves a sweet, crunchy top which contrasts nicely with the moist, delicate blueberry bottom.

I hope you try these out — the recipe is so simple, you’ll probably only have to pick up blueberries at the store!

Orange-Scented Blueberry Muffins

makes 9 regular-sized muffins

For the muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. vegetable 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:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Butter muffin tin or line with muffin liners. Set aside.

Combine flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and kosher salt in a medium mixing bowl.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine vegetable oil, egg, milk and orange zest. 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. vegetable oil or milk to thin, though only if necessary. Add the fresh blueberries and gently fold into the mixture. Do not over-mix.

To make the crumb topping, combine 1/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, cubed butter and ground cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Mixture will be lumpy.

Pour or spoon muffin batter into the buttered (or lined) muffin tin, filling until almost full. Generously sprinkle the crumb topping over the tops of each muffin cup.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until muffin tops are golden brown.

Remove from heat and cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes.

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