The best orange & pecan muffins

These fruity orange and pecan muffins are amongst the most delicious I’ve eaten and the easiest. The recipe is made in a food processor and comes together in minutes. They are light, fluffy and perfect with a cup of tea.

There is something very magical about walking into your backyard, plucking a juicy ripe orange off the tree and then using it immediately in a recipe. I usually take it off the tree to eat directly because my oranges are sweet and seedless and perfect as they are, but this time I was on a mission to bake. 

I always keep a stash of nuts in my freezer to prevent them from going rancid and I also foraged out a bag of mixed raisins and sultanas leftover from my Christmas baking. These went into the mix frozen and the double blades on my Breville food processor ground them up quite finely so you don’t particularly detect them.

As a result, these muffins have a smooth cake-like crumb vs a chunky one so I’m toying with the idea of adding additional whole bits next time for texture. I think this is an excellent recipe to play around with and adapt to your taste. 

The orange is strong but not overpoweringly so, and surprisingly there is no hint of bitterness despite using all the skin and pith. It is important to use seedless oranges though and ones that are perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy.

A long-time friend and reader of Drizzleanddip shared this recipe with me via Instagram recently and it immediately piqued my interest. Pretty much all the ingredients get banged into a food processor, including a whole unpeeled orange and that is all that it takes.

I love nothing more than a recipe that promises so little work, plus the idea of using a fresh whole orange was irresistible to me. Beryl also mentioned that these orange & pecan muffins were a huge hit in her circle of friends so on Sunday I whipped up my first batch while padding around in my pj’s and slippers and was astounded at how effortless they were to make.

I can always tell how a baked thing will turn out by the taste of the batter and this one was particularly good. Ok, I admit I’m rather obsessed with the flavour of orange in sweet recipes and desserts. I have so many in my cookbook sweet and I adore anything fruity in general, so this is definitely up my street.

I make these orange and pecan muffins every winter when oranges are in season.

I didn’t do much tweaking to the recipe except converting some of the measurements from volume to weight, and I used brown sugar instead of white. I also reserved some of the nuts to sprinkle on top because I like a nutty top.

In my latest recipe rendition I sprinkled coconut sugar over the top along with the chopped pecans and this created a delicious topping. I adore coconut sugar but any dark brown sugar (Muscovado or demerara would be lovely too. 

A few other muffin recipes you might like:

The best morning glory muffins

The best easy plum muffins

Apricot & blueberry muffins

Blueberry muffins with oats and almonds

Apple & cinnamon muffins

Recipe – makes 12 muffins – slightly adapted from and with great thanks to Beryl Alexander

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