Orange Ricotta Muffins with Blueberries

Nearly three weeks after orange picking, I'm still on an orange kick. We lost one orange to mold, but the rest were eaten or juiced just in time to bring home 11 grapefruits. Don't worry, I don't foresee an inundation of grapefruit recipes any time soon. The last one I tried was a grapefruit meringue pie and while C maintained that it was good (and finished the pie), I thought it was disgusting. There's something about the flavor of grapefruits that I don't like--not the tartness, but the flavor. I'll stick to orange recipes! Today, that orange recipe is for orange ricotta muffins.

The last time I had leftover ricotta cheese I decided to bake muffins. I wanted to make lemon ricotta muffins with thyme and blueberries. I left out the blueberries and made Cooking Light's Tuscan Lemon Muffins but with a little barley flour and thyme sugar on top. I was out of olive oil, so I used canola. I think that might be why my muffins smelled and tasted fried. They were also a fairly dry. I was very disappointed. I left myself notes for how to try improving the recipe, but decided it would be best to just start over with a new recipe. I chose Orange Ricotta Chocolate Chip Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod because Maria's recipe called for butter in place of oil. I hoped these would turn out better than just barely edible.

Objective
Use up leftover ricotta cheese to make muffins with homemade orange extract.

Materials
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
zest from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup ricotta
1/2 egg, beaten
2 tbsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. orange extract
1 cup blueberries, frozen.
Topping:
2 tbsp. turbinado sugar
zest of 1 orange

Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Grease 8 muffin cups or line them with paper liners. Set aside.
2. Prepare the topping by combining the turbinado sugar and orange zest in a small bowl and rubbing the zest into the sugar (or use a mortar and pestle). Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the ricotta, beaten egg, orange juice, and orange extract. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Divide the batter evenly between muffin cups. Sprinkle the sugar topping over the muffins.
5. Bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes (less if you used fresh berries) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set on a wire rack to cool completely.

Results
These muffins are airy, lightly sweet, and orangey with juicy bursts of blueberry. Best warm out of the oven.

Discussion and Future Directions
I almost didn't try this recipe in favor of a second batch of Clinton Street Baking Co.'s Sunshine Yogurt Muffins. I'm so glad I did because though the recipes are similar, they make very different muffins. The Sunshine Yogurt Muffins give you a burst of tangy, citrusy sunshine to get you moving in the morning (really, they named the muffin perfectly). These muffins are airy, lightly sweet, and orangey with juicy bursts of blueberries. They lack the tangy component imparted by the lemon/lime of the Sunshine Yogurt Muffins.

The combination of orange and blueberry is very tasty. I'd considered adding finely chopped hazelnuts or dried cranberries, but I'm glad I chose blueberries because of the juices they impart. I prefer to make blueberry muffins to blackberry or raspberry because they don't have annoying seeds that get stuck in your teeth. If I had fresh cranberries (or even better yet, sugared cranberries) on hand, they would have been a great alternative for a tangier muffin. Requiring just 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese, a batch of these muffins is a great way to use up leftover ricotta you find hanging out in your fridge!

Supplementary Materials