Weekend Herb Blogging - Mandarin Orange Muffins with walnuts

Been a busy week in the kitchen as I am taking a sabbatical from work. So back to Weekend Herb Blogging to share some of my adventures... from the cooking pit. Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook is hosting this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging. Here's a quick summary of the rules, if you are interested in this weekly activity.

One of the must-have for the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) is mandarin oranges. It stands for prosperity and luck and we have to bring a pair when we go visiting during the festive period.  It didn't help when the oranges are sold in cartons of 12, 18 or 24 depending on their sizes.  Papa being his usual generous self bought us the carton that had 24 of the fruit. Needless to say, at the end of the festive period (14days) we still have about 20 of the mandarin oranges lying around.


Mandarin oranges belong to the citrus group and contains the usual goodness from that family. High in vitamin C and the skins full of flavour.  These fruits are gorgeous, their thin skins make them easy to peel, and the juice taste great if you decide to pass it through the juicer.


Well, something had to be done to use up the oranges and they came in the form of muffins!

You will need (make 1 dozen)
(recipe modified  from Martha Stewart's)


115g unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 mandarin oranges, peeled, segments cut into bite-size
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped.
3/4 cups sugar (more if desired, I like it less sweet)
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


1.  Preheat oven to 190 deg cel. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. 


2. Coat thinly cut segments of mandarin orange with flour. (Prevents them from sinking to bottom during baking)


3. Beat butter and sugar till fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time until combined. Add in vanilla.


4. Set mixer to low speed and add in flour mixture (from step 1). Add in milk, beating until just combined. Do not over mix.


5. Fold in mandarin orange segments and walnuts.


6. Scoop batter into a standard 12-cup muffin pan. Sprinkle mixture of sugar and nutmeg on top of the muffin batter.


7. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. (It takes 20-30mins).


8. Transfer pan to cool for about 10 minutes. Turn muffins on their sides in the muffin cup and let cool. Best served warm.