Marmalade Muffins

Darling Sister got this for me awhile back. Dear Friends brought it over in their luggage. We've all enjoyed it. A lot. In fact, the day the mail was delivered, there were a bunch of us and this got passed around and around. I was the last to see it. (That's because I still have some priorities straight and I dug into my personal mail first- thanks, Dear Friends, for still writing.) :)

So- starting on page 58 of the above book, there's a recipe for some scrumptious-looking muffins. I knew the first time I looked at it that I wanted to eat those things. Tues I made a batch. They are pure smile-on-your-face super! Here's the recipe:

• 2 oranges
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 
  
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

preheat oven to 375 F. Grate the zest from the oranges. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Crack in the eggs and mix until well combined. Sift the flour. Add it to the bowl. Gently stir the mixture using as few strokes as possible so that the muffins aren't tough. In a smalll measuring cup or bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda. Add the buttermilk mixture to the muffin batter and mix until just combined. Add the orange zest. Mix just until combined, being careful not to overmix. Grease 24 mini muffin tins (I used 18 regular sized muffin papers- my muffins didn't overflow and have the nice baker's hat appearance that PW's do in the book... but that's ok with me.) and fill each 2/3 full with muffin batter. Bake for 12-17 min until light brown. Watch to make sure they don't get too brown.

While the muffins are baking, prepare the glaze. Juice the 2 oranges. Mix the juice with the 1 cup of brown sugar (from above) in a med bowl and stir together just until combined; don't worry about dissolving the sugar completely- you want the glaze to be grainy and textured. As soon as the muffins are done, drizzle the glaze all over the top. Be sure to throroughly coat each muffin. Don't worry if the glaze drips all over the pan- just lick it up later! ;)

And Thanks, Dear Sister, for the cookbook. I've always loved cookbooks and this one is a keeper! xo