Olive Oil Muffins

Recipe adapted from Olive Oil Cake at Food52 by Rachel Binder and Gerri Sarnataro from Maialino restaurant

The Grand Marnier plays a big role in the flavor of these muffins. If you don’t want to use alcohol, you could try the muffins with orange juice with a spoonful of orange extract added but they won’t have the same dynamic flavor the originals have. (I haven’t tried it personally, so if you do, let us know in the comments what you did and how it worked out.) One reader in the comments mentioned she’d added some orange marmalade (which is made with bitter oranges) which got me thinking that maybe you could swap out the 1/3 cup orange juice/Grand Marnier with 1/3 cup of orange marmalade, chopped fine if it has large shreds of orange peel in it.You could add a few drops of vanilla or almond extract to the batter if you wish, either way, although my French taster said not to touch them or do anything else – that they were perfect.The muffin cups I used are called mini-Panettone molds and can be found in some cookware shops and

. They were 2 1/2 x 1 3/4-inches. (About 6 x 4.5cm.) You could use other size muffin cups and fill them about 2/3rds to 3/4s full.

Course Snack

1 1/3 cups (185g) flour
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (180ml) fruity extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 cup (180ml) whole or lowfat milk
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
1/3 cup (80ml) mixed: half fresh orange juice, half Grand Marnier

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Set eight paper mini-Panettone or free-standing muffin cups on a baking sheet. (Or set regular muffin cup liners in a muffin tin with eight indentations.)
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, milk, eggs, orange zest, and orange juice/Grand Marnier mixture.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the olive oil mixture. Stir the ingredients together with a flexible spatula until they are just combined but do not overmix. There may be some minor lumps in the batter, which are fine. (Overmixing will cause the muffins to be tough.)
Fill the muffin molds 2/3rds to 3/4s full of batter and bake until they just feel set in the center and the tops are golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before serving.

Notes

Storage: The muffins can be baked two or three days ahead and kept at room temperature in an airtight container. Although they will lose their crusty top the flavor will be more pronounced the next day as the crumb gets saturated with the olive oil and Grand Marnier flavors. They can also be frozen for up to two months.