On a recent bout of cold and flu and sore throat at my house, I managed to down a few litres of orange juice, apple and mango juice, and cranberry juice; a few punnets of strawberries; and about 6 kg of oranges. Yep, I’m not kidding. I’m very particular with taking medication that if I can help it, I will not take any medication save for the occasional paracetamol and anti-histamine for my hay fever. Maybe it’s the nurse in me that doesn’t want to expose myself to medications any further than what I have already been exposed to in the past (trust me, I’ve had passive exposure to some weird concoction of antibiotics all those years while working in the hospital).

Anyway, to make the long story short, I’d rather treat myself naturally by eating healthily and consuming large amounts of Vitamin C before heading towards the road to Codral-land. But now that we’re better, I have been left with a 2kg bag of oranges rotting lying on my benchtop with nowhere to go. My sister gave up on eating them ages ago because we both got sick and hence both overdosed ourselves with Vitamin C. So, what to do with a bunch of ripe navel oranges before they go to waste?

Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

I’m usually not a fan of citrusy cakes and stuff, but this recipe has been a tried and tested recipe of mine. It’s actually one of the first few recipes I’ve studied when learning to bake. I love the crumbly, sweet-tangy texture of it with a few crackly bits on top. The cream cheese is literally the icing on the cake – I have been generous enough to make a big batch of frosting because I know that the recipients of these muffin babies are huge fans of cream cheese frosting. Oh, and maybe some for me too (the cook needs to be rewarded too, ya know!).

I have published a previous recipe here for the same muffins, so I’ll just copy it down again. I’ve tweaked it around a bit because I only had 3 eggs left, but the results were still fabulous!

Orange & Poppy Seed Muffins

Recipe from The Australian Women’s Weekly – ninemsn.com.au

Makes 12-16 muffins

3 large oranges

1/3 cup poppy seeds

250g butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1. Pre-heat oven to160 deg C. Line your muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Grate the rind from the oranges. Squeeze the fruit juice – pulp and all!
3. Combine the juice, rind, and poppy seeds in a bowl. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time.
5. Fold in sifted flours and orange juice mix in 2 batches.
6. Divide evenly on to muffin tray. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool on rack before frosting with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

250g cream cheese, softened

80g butter

1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until softened.
2. Add icing sugar and beat until well combined.

And well, being the glutton that I am, I couldn’t resist taking a bite. I had to stop myself halfway to take a photo of the insides and well, here you go!

NOM!

Sunday is my baking day. I do my usual social rounds with friends, a trip to the supermarket, maybe a little bit of window shopping therapy, and then I get home and start up my oven while I boil some hot water for tea.

I have my usual round of tea cakes and muffins that I alternate week in week out. Mr J always requests for apple cinnamon muffins, which I have been making for the past few weeks, but this time I had some spare oranges so what do I do? Orange and poppy seed muffins, fo sho!

I have only used one orange and poppy seed muffin the whole time I’ve been baking, and this has been a tried and true recipe. Simple, no fail, but utterly moist and citrusy muffins – just the way I like it!

Orange & Poppy Seed Muffins

Recipe from The Australian Women’s Weekly – ninemsn

Makes 12 muffins

2 large oranges

1/4 cup poppy seeds

250g butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1. Pre-heat oven to160 deg C. Line your muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Grate the rind from the oranges. Squeeze the fruit juice – pulp and all!
3. Combine the juice, rind, and poppy seeds in a bowl. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time.
5. Fold in sifted flours and orange juice mix in 2 batches.
6. Divide evenly on to muffin tray. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool on rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting if desired.