Orange Date Muffins. A great old fashioned muffin recipe featuring great orange flavour, sweet dates, optional crunchy pecans and fragrant five spice powder.
Orange Date Muffins.
Regular readers of Rock Recipes will have noticed that I have a little love affair going on with five spice powder. You will sometimes find it as Chinese Five Spice.
Ingredients for date orange muffins.
As the name suggests, it is simply a blend of five different spices. Variations occur but the most common combination is star anise, cloves, Szechuan pepper, cinnamon and ground fennel seeds.
Orange Date Muffins, perfect for a coffee break.
While it is commonly used in Chinese cooking I love to use it in baking. I use it anywhere that you would use cinnamon or any blend of baking spices.
If you don’t have it or can’t find it, you can simply substitute 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves.
Orange Date Muffins made without the paper liners.
I’ve used it in everything from these muffins to a scrumptious Apple Five Spice Tarte Tatin. It gives such a spicy fragrance and flavour to baked goods, you will love it.
Orange Date Muffins
Experiment yourself with this amazing spice blend, perhaps in this recipe for my favorite Apple Cinnamon Sticky Buns.
Wet ingredients mixed together.
Dry ingredients sifted together.
Fold batter until no lumps are visible
Fold in dates and pecans.
Orange Date Muffins ready for the oven.
Love a great muffin recipe? We’ve put together a collection of our Top 25 Fan Favourite Muffin Recipes. You may be surprised to see which delicious, wholesome muffin hit the #1 spot!
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Yield: 12 large muffins
Orange Date Muffins
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Orange Date Muffins. A great old fashioned muffin recipe featuring great orange flavour, sweet dates and fragrant five spice powder.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp five spice powder ( or 1 3/4 tsp cinnamon & 1/4 tsp cloves)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp finely minced orange zest
- 1 cup dates, chopped
- 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Stir together The flour, baking powder, baking soda, five spice powder and salt. Set aside.
Beat together the sugar, egg, orange juice, milk, oil vanilla extract and orange zest.
Fold dry ingredients into the wet mixture. When the dry ingredients are almost incorporated, add and fold in the dates and pecans
Spoon batter into greased or paper lined muffin pans and bake for 20- 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack or serve warm from the oven.
Notes
Toast the nuts in a baking pan in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 10 minutes. Toss the nuts once at the 5 minute mark and return to the oven.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1 large muffin
Amount Per ServingCalories 233Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 16mgSodium 296mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 2gSugar 17gProtein 4g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
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FAQs
How to Make Homemade Muffins Moist: Our Top Tips
- Tips to Make Homemade Muffins Moist.
- Keep Wet and Dry Ingredients Separately.
- Add All Flavorings Last.
- Consider Paper Liners.
- Don't Overfill the Muffin Cups.
- Check the Temperature of Your Oven.
- Test if Muffins Are Fully Cooked.
- Top Your Muffins with Flavor.
Chilling your muffin batter overnight in the fridge is the BEST thing you can do for amazing muffins. It makes them more moist, tender, and TALLER! It's very similar to chilling cookie dough, which if you know me you know I'm obsessed with chilling cookie dough.
How can I spice up my muffins? ›
5 Ways To Jazz Up Muffin Mix
- Add Fresh or Frozen Fruit to the Batter. Our Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix comes with a can of blueberries for your convenience, but you can easily add fruit to any of our mixes. ...
- Add a Cream Cheese Filling. ...
- Add Nuts to the Batter. ...
- Add a Sweet Topping. ...
- Make Something Completely Different.
Choose from a variety of options, such as streusel crumbs or sugar crystals, which go on the muffins before baking, or a glaze, which you can drizzle on after the muffins are baked and cooled.
What not to do when making muffins? ›
Here are some common mistakes that might be causing this:
- Over mixing the batter.
- Overfilling the muffin tray.
- Leaving the muffins in the pan after they have baked.
- Berries, nuts, and chocolate chips sink to the bottom.
Vegetable oil is ideal because its mild flavour doesn't compete with the main flavour of the muffin. My recipes generally specify 100ml vegetable oil per batch of 12, which is only 1½ teaspoons per muffin.
What does adding an extra egg do to muffins? ›
If there isn't enough egg, your batter or dough may not be able to hold its structure or could end up overly dry or dense. On the other hand, if there is too much egg, your baked goods could lose their shape due to excess liquid, or have a rubbery (or even overly cakey) texture depending on the recipe.
Why are bakery muffins so much better? ›
The best bakery-style crumb muffins start with cake flour
Cake flour is more finely ground and has less protein, which leaves the muffins with a fine, light crumb and soft texture. Using cake flour is an easy way to avoid heavy, dense muffins even if you end up stirring just a bit too much.
Should you let muffin batter rest? ›
Rest the Muffin Batter
The first, most hands-off way to make your muffins pop (literally) is to let the batter rest. Make the batter, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the batter rest at room temperature for about 1 hour. If you're short on time, just 30 minutes can make a difference.
What is the most popular muffin flavor? ›
Blueberry muffins are probably the single most popular muffin of all time. They are like the Beyonce of muffins. And this recipe is called "To Die For" for a reason. Generously sized with a little bit of crunch in the sugary topping, these are the blueberry ideal.
Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the overall flavor, but it won't make the muffins taste salty. Sugar: White sugar lends sweetness to the muffins. Egg: An egg adds moisture and helps bind the muffin batter together. Milk: A cup of milk gives the muffins moisture and flavor.
Why do my muffins taste bland? ›
Not Enough Salt
Believe it or not, not using enough salt is one of the most common culprits for baked goods that lack flavor. Salt is a key ingredient that enhances your recipes because it brings out the sweetness and balances the flavors.
What are 2 characteristics of a good muffin? ›
- High-quality muffins have a thin, evenly browned crust.
- Top is symmetrical, but looks rough.
- When broken apart, texture is uniform and crumb is tender and light.
Depending on what ingredients you're using, the batter will range from runny (like thin cake batter) to very thick (like drop-cookie dough). As a general rule, the thinner the batter, the lighter the muffins will be when baked. But don't be afraid to bake thick, gloppy batter.
What ingredient may she have forgotten to add to her muffins that would have caused them not to rise? ›
The baker had forgotten to add baking powder. Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda (sodium hydrogencarbonate) and a mild edible acid such as tartaric acid.
Is it better to use butter or oil in muffins? ›
I will also say using butter is probably best in a recipe that doesn't have a lot of flavor add-ins, like a basic muffin recipe. A blueberry muffin would be perfect for using butter in your muffins. Whereas a pumpkin muffin or chocolate muffin would be good to use oil.
How do you moisten baked muffins? ›
Use a steamer
Steaming is a great way to add moisture to past-their-prime muffins. And according to a TikTok user, you should also be steaming your muffins when you bake them since the hot air and steam allow more time for the centers to rise, resulting in tender and airy muffins.
