Orange-Blueberry Muffins

Joe's out of town this week for work (again... sad face) so I've been pretty bored at home in the evenings. Yeah, I've got Walter for company, but while dogs are good for cuddling they are abysmal at conversation and board games. Last night I decided to while away the hours baking some muffins to bring into the office. Naturally, I turned immediately to the best-ever baking cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, and made the very first recipe: orange-blueberry muffins. They were so delicious that I sent only 2/3 of them to the office and squirreled the rest of them away in the freezer so Joe can try them when he gets home.

Orange-Blueberry Muffins
From Baking: From My Home to Yours

• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• About 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup blueberries--fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey, and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough--the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that's just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Serving: The muffins are great warm or at room temperature and they're particularly great split, toasted, and spread with butter or jam.

Storing: Like all muffins, these are best eaten the day they are made. If you want to keep them, wrap them airtight and pop them into the freezer, where they'll keep for up to 2 months; rewarm in a 350-degree-F oven, if you'd like, or split and toast them.