Orange Muffins

It's official that I love almost anything orange tasting in a bread. I keep wanting to try new bread recipes that have an orange flavor to them, so don't be surprised if more show up in the future :)

INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
½ cup applesauce
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of one medium orange (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to  350 degrees . Line tins with cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and baking powder.

3. In a separate medium-size bowl beat together the egg, applesauce, buttermilk, orange juice, vailla and orange zest. Pour the wet mixture over the dry and mix together just until moistened. Don’t over mix! You may even see some small dry spots – as long as the mixture is evenly moistened without being overmixed, it will be fine.

5. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the prepared muffin tins, alternating the orange and chocolate batters. Fill the cups 2/3 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool the muffins for five minutes in the tins. Remove the muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields: 12 muffins