Sunshine Orange Muffins from The Best of Bridge

Pretty orange and poppyseed muffins from Canada's famous Best of Bridge cookbook series. They're barely sweet and even then, sweetened mostly with a whole orange (skin and all!) and one of my favorite pantry ingredients for a flavor boost, frozen orange juice concentrate.

Homemade Muffins, Warm from the Oven, Bright with Orange Flavor. Mere Minutes to the Table, Perfect for Casual Breakfasts and Weekend Brunch. Fun Picnic Food. Great for Food Gifts. Potluck & Party Friendly.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

COMPLIMENTS!

• "I love the Sunshine muffins as well ..." ~ raidergirl3

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Best of Bridge: A (Canadian) Family Tradition

Canadian readers, you know the Best of Bridge cookbooks, eh? You grew up with them too, eh? Your moms and aunts and cousins cooked with them, for weeknight suppers but most especially for parties too, eh? (LOL. Sorry, I’ll quit with the eh’s.)

After twenty-two years and six cookbooks, the Best of Bridge is gearing up for a new generation of cooks – with two collections of favorite recipes, “The Best of the Best” and “The REST of the Best” of the Best of Bridge. Confusing, I know, that’s a lot of bests. If a double-negative makes a positive, does a triple best make a surefire hit? Chances are!

The morning after the cookbooks hit my mailbox, I sat down with a cup of tea (real Red Rose, thank you …) but got no further than breakfast before draining my teacup (Royal Albert, thank you …) and turning on the oven.

Forty-five minutes later, we broke open warm muffins, barely sweet, extra-tender and full of orange essence. It would be easy to embellish these muffins – with orange zest added with the flour, say, or chopped golden raisins or toasted pecans or even, alors, mini chocolate chips. Me, I loved them plain with a little marmalade.

Once again, Best of Bridge, you are the best.

Six Degrees of Separation

My Canadian family has been swapping Best of Bridge recipes as long as I can remember.

But my own small Best of Bridge claim to fame comes from my American family. My dear Auntie Karen went to school with Linda Barber Jacobson (now deceased), one of the eight women who played bridge together in the 1970s and collected their recipes into one edition after another of the Best of Bridge cookbooks, a Canadian culinary institution. Last month Auntie Karen wrote, “There were four of us living in a room the size of a public phone booth. Two from Canada and two of us from the States. Wonderful memories."

But there's more! In 2015, Best of Bridge passed the torch spatula to a new generation of Canadian authors, including one of my very favorite food bloggers, Julie van Rosendaal of the Calgary-based food blog Dinner with Julie.

What Is Canadian Cuisine? What Are "Canadian" Cookbooks?

For me, the answer is easy. My Canadian recipes are family recipes, the ones that come from my mom's side of the family. Are they "Canadian" in the way that "baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet" are American? Not really.

Awhile back, I scoured the cookbook sections in both Toronto and Winnipeg bookstores but found nothing that I felt really represented Canada well. Perhaps my search is a fool's game, is there one definitive "American" cookbook either? Of course not. I did find the lovely Across the Table: An Indulgent Look at Food in Canada by Cynthia Wine (what a great name for a food writer!) with gorgeous original watercolours by Canadian artist Mary Pratt.

So Canadian Readers, is there a cookbook you think of as "Canadian"? one you might gift to a visitor from another country, say? or one you think somehow wraps its arms around the vast melting pot that is Canada?

UPDATE Many thanks to the many readers who responded in the comments, I so appreciate your sharing your favorite Canadian cookbooks here!

BUT THERE'S MORE! I follow so, so many Canadian food blogs and it's wonderful to see the appearance of a "Canadian" food sensibility. It's showing up in cookbooks too, see this 2017 list of four new Canadian cookboks from Simple Bites. I'm off to check 'em out!

What's In Sunshine Orange Muffins? Pantry Ingredients!

In all my recipes and most well-written recipes, every ingredient serves a purpose. Each one matters. Each one contributes to the overall dish. Usually I'm a big fan of substitutes, in this case, I recommend sticking with the recipe, it just works.

• Orange Flavor! The orange flavors in these muffins are really special and come from two sources. First, a whole orange, that's right, including the skin where intense orange oils are found. Second, frozen orange juice concentrate, something I consider almost a miracle ingredient in my kitchen.
• Typical Wet Ingredients egg + vegetable oil
• Typical Dry Ingredients sugar + all-purpose flour + whole-wheat flour + baking powder & baking soda + salt
• For a Striking Appearance poppy seeds (optional but quite pretty)

How to Make Sunshine Orange Muffins

The detailed recipe is written in traditional recipe form below but here are the highlights in three easy steps. You can definitely do this!

• GET OUT THE BLENDER! This is an unusual first step but it's key to grinding up the whole orange. Be sure to cut it up first and most of all, be sure to remove any orange seeds. They would probably grind up but would add an unwelcome bitterness.
• CONTINUE WITH THE BLENDER? SWITCH TO A MIXING BOWL? I usually move to a mixing bowl but Best of Bridge calls for finishing mixing the muffins right there in the blender.
• BAKE Scoop the muffin batter into standard-size muffin cups and bake.
• That's it!

Bookmark! PIN! Share!

How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If this fun muffin recipe inspires you, please do save and share! I'd be honored ...

~ PIN This Recipe ~

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SUNSHINE-ORANGE MUFFINS

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes but honestly, best after a few hours
Makes 12 regular-size muffins

BLENDER
• 1 whole orange, skin left on, ends trimmed, halved, seeds removed, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup (135g) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
• 1/4 cup (47g) vegetable oil

MIX
• 1 cup flour, fluffed to aerate before measuring or 125g
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour, fluffed to aerate or 62g
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds, optional but pretty

PREP Heat the oven to 375F/190C. Spray a muffin tin or line cups with paper or (my favorite) silicone muffin cups.

BLENDER Place the chopped orange, OJ concentrate, egg, sugar and oil in a blender and whiz away until smooth and airy, about a minute.

MIX Now – decide if you want to save a dish and continue mixing in the blender or go easy on yourself and move to a mixing bowl. If continuing with the mixer, add the remaining ingredients and run the blender just until the ingredients are mixed, scraping the sides early to avoid overmixing.

Me, I move to the mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a large fork or a spatula just until blended.

SCOOP Using two spoons, one to scoop and one to scrape, fill the muffin tins evenly.

BAKE for 15 – 20 minutes until golden and a cake tester (affiliate link) inserted in the center comes out clean.

LET COOL. Serve with butter and jam or plain. The flavors develop over a couple of hours and the muffins stay moist and tender for a good two days.

ALANNA’s TIPS Based on a pantry inventory of something like a dozen jars, seems to be I like buying jams and preserves more than eating them. But call me hooked on something called “Scandinavian Delights” Orange Danish Spread from Elki Corporation. For anyone keen on an online order, they are sold on Elki’s website but for a depressing $7.50 a jar plus shipping no doubt. But I found a few jars of the marmalade-like preserves (except WAY less sweet) at Marshall’s for $3.50 each and hope to snag a few more next visit. The poppy seeds are my addition, I love how they look. Plus, y'know, seeds ...

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Muffin: 138 Calories; 4g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 17mg Cholesterol; 345mg Sodium; 22g Carb; 1g Fiber; 10g Sugar; 3g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 3 & PointsPlus 4 & SmartPoints 5 & Freestyle 4 & myWW green 4 & blue 4 & purple 4 & future WW points This recipe has been "Alanna-sized" with reductions in processed sugar and flour and increases in natural sugars, flavor and whole-grains.

Adapted from The Best of the Best from the Best of Bridge Cookbooks. This and The Rest of the Best seem to be new releases of the 2004 editions of these cookbooks. Many thanks for complimentary copies from the publisher, Robert Rose. DISCLOSURE My Disclosure Promise

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Seasonal Eating: Early Spring Across the Years

Tender Pork Tenderloin Honey Mustard Chicken Moroccan Chicken Sole with Mushrooms & Onions Mango Chicken Salad Red Quinoa Salad Your Way Simple Egg Salad with a Twist Mojito Strawberries Sunshine Orange Muffins Upside-Down Rhubarb Cheesecake Strawberry Milk Sugar Cookie Bars

This Week, Elsewhere

~ Tzatziki ~
from Olympia Kebob House & Taverna
~ more St. Louis Restaurant Recipes ~
My Weekly Column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

~ Savory Muffins with Sweet Potato & Feta ~
~ more Recent Recipes ~
A Veggie Venture

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More Morning Muffin Recipes

more
~ muffin recipes ~

• THE RECIPE Make-Ahead Bran Muffin Batter Mix now, bake later in small batches including a single mug in the microwave.
• ANOTHER TAKE Perfect Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins So healthy! So adaptable! Stays fresh for days too.

• THE RECIPE Rhubarb Muffins Whole grain, less sweet.
• ANOTHER TAKE Cornmeal Muffins with Peaches Barely sweet, pretty muffins with great texture.

• THE RECIPE Hearty Heart-Loving Muffins Whole-grain, low-sugar, just 120 calories, so good!
• ANOTHER TAKE Morning Glory Muffins The classic muffin with carrot, apple, currants and nuts, so good!

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ orange & orange juice concentrate ~
~ poppy seed recipes ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail, you'll find my current address in the FAQs. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, for more scratch cooking recipes using whole, healthful ingredients, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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