When I first heard that January would be citrus love, I knew my first recipe had to include my FAVORITE combination in the world:

Orange and Pumpkin

Little did I know I would find a recipe that brings together

the holy Badger Girl trinity:

Orange + Cranberry + Pumpkin

 

Life could not get better.

Citrus what?

Every month a group of bloggers band together under a certain theme. This month we are connecting all of our posts that include a citrus ingredient.

To see the other posts, scroll down to the bottom to get more information on where you can find more citrus-yummy recipes AND how you can connect your own citrus recipe to ours.

Why orange zest?

The easy answer: because it is so freaking good.

It’s also advice passed down my mother who always includes a little orange zest whenever dealing with pumpkin.

I could get all foodie and say that it brings out the sweetness of the pumpkin and how well the two flavor complement each other on the tongue.

And really, it’s so freaking good. 

Orange Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet Cookbook

1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup oil
 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2-3 tablespoons orange zest
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup soy or almond milk
1/2 cup quinoa flour*
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unprocessed sugar 
1/2 cup dried cranberries

*If you don’t want to purchase quinoa flour, substitute whole wheat pastry flour, but the muffins will be drier. Quinoa flour is totally worth it (if you can find it)!

 

 

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat mini muffin pans with cooking spray.
  2. Whisk egg and egg white together in a small bowl.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine oatmeal, pumpkin, applesauce, soy (or almond) milk, eggs, and orange zest.
  4. In a large bowl, whisk together baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, quinoa flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and unprocessed sugar.
  5. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until combined. Do not over mix.
  6. Fold in the dried cranberries.
  7. Spoon into prepared muffin pans and bake for 10-15 minutes or until you can stick in a toothpick and have it come out clean.

Recipe Review:

If you look close at the pictures above, you can see that I couldn’t even wait for these to cool. I took a big chunk out while snapping pictures.

They are so amazingly good. Super moist, super flavorful, and my favorite combination of flavors in the world.

I might be a little biased, but I think they’re  the best muffins I have ever had.

What’s your favorite kind of muffin?