Bakery-Style Orange Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe
This Orange Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe holds a special place in my heart for so many reasons. First of all, it’s a recipe that started out as a mistake. I was attempting an orange-flavor blondie that turned out more like bread and, over the years, the recipe slowly morphed into one of my absolute favorites. I love it when that happens.
I also never tire of the orange and chocolate flavor combination. It’s extra special to me at Christmas time but the fresh orange flavor makes these muffins a great option in the summer (or any other time of year) too. In addition, these muffins always bring back special memories because when I had my first baby, my sister-in-law brought me orange chocolate muffins the first time she came to meet my newborn.
For years, I would make a special stop at that bakery when we’d visit them and I still stop there when I can but after a lot of tweaks and adjustments to perfect the recipe, I actually like my own version even better! Let’s be honest, I almost always prefer my own recipes because I can control the quality of ingredients and I can bake at home with KAMUT! (Read all about KAMUT flour here.)
The best part is that it’s an easy recipe so now we can have these orange chocolate chip muffins anytime! We can enjoy these delicious muffins when my brother’s family visits us, on special (or any!) weekend mornings and we love them as an afternoon snack.
Ingredients and Equipment
For this recipe, you don’t even need muffin liners, just a great-quality non-stick spray and a non-stick muffin tin. Choose a muffin tin with standard muffin cups and, to get evenly-sized muffins, use a large cookie scoop. The one I use is one ounce or two tablespoons.
Steps
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees then whisk dry ingredients and set aside. Measure your milk of choice and set that aside as well. Honestly, you can take your pick as far as milk or milk alternatives. I’ve tried whole milk, oat milk, and vanilla-flavored soy milk and the muffins have turned out great every time.
Next, in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, continue with the wet ingredients. Cream together the banana, both sugars and butter. Although I often use cold butter for cookies, I do use room-temperature butter for this and most other muffin recipes. When smooth, add the eggs one at a time, vanilla extract and orange liquor or orange extract and orange zest from two high-quality fresh oranges.
To help get a light texture, combine ingredients as you would for a cake. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. You can do this by hand with a spatula or whisk, in your stand mixer, or with a handheld mixer. This makes for yet another reason why this is one of my favorite recipes – it is so flexible and versatile. Next, add the milk and mix until just combined then finish with the remainder of the dry ingredients.
Last, mix in your choice of semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks. The original bakery muffins that inspired this recipe used large chunks of chocolate but their muffins are also much bigger. I like this standard size for at home, especially when serving for breakfast, so I also like a smaller chocolate chip. I think mini chocolate chips work best to get that orange chocolate flavor combo in every bite.
Fill muffin tin with slightly overfull scoops of batter and bake. Lower oven temperature to 350 after 5 minutes of bake time. A tester toothpick will come out clean or with just a few crumbs when finished baking.
How to get Fluffy Muffins and Bakery-Quality Muffin Tops
To keep your muffins fluffy, here are some tips:
- Avoid overmixing the muffin batter. Mix each addition until just combined.
- Alternate adding milk and dry ingredients as recommended above.
- Heat oven to a higher temperature then drop the oven temperature after muffins have baked for a few minutes.
Finishing touches
After baking, let the muffins cool in the trays while you prep the glaze. The combination of the zest in the muffin batter and the fresh orange juice in the glaze is what really provides the bright citrus flavors. Make sure to sift powdered sugar to remove any clumps. Then add just enough orange juice to make a thin, pourable glaze. Although you won’t actually see an icing layer, the glaze will provide a sheen on the muffins, prevent leftover muffins from drying out as quickly and add more flavor.
Once muffins are cool enough to handle, set a wire rack on a large piece of wax or parchment paper. Rotate each muffin to loosen then remove muffins from the tray and set on a wire rack with some space in between. I like to use a wire rack that is easy to clean since it will get messy during this step. Drizzle glaze over each muffin and let dry. As soon as the glaze is no longer sticky, it has set and the perfect snack is ready!
Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups KAMUT® White Flour (or 2 cups white all-purpose flour)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 mashed banana
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup unsalted, softened butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ¼ cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
- 2 tsp Cointreau (or orange extract)
- zest of 2 oranges
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar (sifted)
- 2 juiced oranges
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉ and spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Whisk first four ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder), set aside.
- Measure milk and set aside.
- Use a stand mixer or a handheld mixer and cream the banana, brown and white sugar and butter.
- To the wet ingredients, add the eggs, vanilla, Cointreau and zest, mixing after each addition.
- Alternate adding milk and dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Start and end with dry ingredients, adding milk in-between.
- Stir in mini chocolate chips.
- Use muffin/ice cream scoop and add slightly overfull scoops to muffin tin.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 400 then lower oven temperature to 325 for 15-20 more minutes. Muffins are done when a toothpick tester comes out clean or with a few crumbs.
- Make glaze while muffins cool for a few minutes in the tray.
- Rotate muffins to loosen and then transfer to a wire rack over a large piece of wax or parchment paper.
- Drizzle glaze over the top of each muffin and let cool completely.
