Orange Muffins

I'm bored of all the usual things I have for breakfast, like toast with cinnamon and sugar, or cereal, so today it was muffins! I wanted to try something different, I already made banana muffins a couple of days ago and I knew I had a bowl full of oranges I could use. I wonder what allrecipes has for orange muffin recipes! This is the first one that came up, and wouldn't you know, the comment posted by the person who contributed the recipe said, "An old Mennonite recipe". Say no more!

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

2/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)

1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, white sugar and grated orange peel. Stir in orange juice, 1/2 cup melted butter, eggs and chopped nuts.

Pour into 12 muffin cups.

Blend 1 tablespoon melted margarine, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

Notes:

I didn't have white sugar, so I used 1/3 cup brown sugar. (I prefer to reduce sugar in most recipes.)

I pulled the insides out of the orange and used a hand blender to mix it with butter and eggs. May as well keep the fiber of the orange, not just the juice. I should have measured the orange juice because the muffins were a tiny bit dry, so I may have been a little short on juice. 

I made a small mistake with the topping. I did extra butter (of course!) so the topping wasn't crumbly. It still turned out okay (not ideal, just okay), but you'll definitely want to maintain that crumb texture with the topping.

This would probably work just as well with whole-wheat flour, to make it just a little bit healthier with a little more fiber.