Pomegranate Orange Muffins
 
 
Yield: 18 muffins
Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 3 clementines
  • 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds (or raspberries or blueberries)
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 cupcake pans with 18 paper liners and set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine then make a well in the middle of the flour mixture.
  3. Wash 2 of the clementines then cut them into 8 pieces each, leaving the peel on. Blend the 2 cut clementines and the milk in a blender until smooth. Add the eggs and blend until incorporated.
  4. Pour the egg mixture into the center of the flour mixture. Add the melted butter then mix until just combined. You want the batter to still be lumpy, but without any pockets or streaks of flour.
  5. Scoop the batter evenly among the paper liners filling each cup about ¾ full. I found a cookie scoop to be the least messy way to divide the batter. Divide the pomegranate seeds (or raspberries or blueberries) and put some on the top of each. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out with no batter on it and the muffins are golden. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes then move the muffins to a cooling rack until completely cooled.
  6. Cut the remaining clementine in half. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the juice from half the clementine. Stir until the glaze is thick, but drizzle-able, adding more juice from the other half of the clementine if needed. Drizzle the glaze on the muffins then let the glaze set for 10 minutes.
Notes
If you only have 1 cupcake pan, buy another! Just kidding, put 6 of the liners aside until the first 12 muffins bake and the pan cools.
The original recipe calls for aluminum-free baking powder stating aluminum may react with pomegranate and make the batter blue. I made sure to use aluminum-free baking powder, but I still had a little blue on my muffins around the edges of the pomegranate. I have not yet experimented with non-aluminum-free baking powder to see if the batter would have been even more blue-tinged, but just a word of caution!
Recipe by Lemon & Mocha at http://www.lemonandmocha.com/2018/01/30/pomegranate-orange-muffins/