Good Morning Muffins

I have to say, The Pioneer Woman did it again.  I love this muffin. I love everything about it.  I did change the ratio of flour from all all-purpose flour and instead did 50% white whole wheat and 50% unbleached all-purpose flour but I couldn't even tell that they weren't all white flour.  They were incredibly moist, they have a nice orange taste flavor inside and cinnamon sugar crunch on the top, and the inside was dense (which is how I like them) but not so dense that you have to drink a glass of milk just to wash them down.

The topping adds nice crunch and cinnamon flavor.

MyFitnessPal calculates the recipe that I used (with my changes as seen below) at 233 calories each.  Definitely not diet food but if you're able to keep it to just one muffin for breakfast it's so worth it. I froze half of the muffins for later and I'll report back when I un-thaw them to see if they change much when thawed.

This would be great to have on hand for a quick breakfast or snack, put one in your kids lunch boxes or even your own lunch box. A keeper for sure!

Good Morning Muffins

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour (or just whole wheat)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 cups orange marmalade
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 whole eggs, beaten
• Topping
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg (I used a scant tsp)
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp butter, melted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• wheat germ (optional)

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flours, sugar and baking powder.
3. Add in the butter and shortening and use a pastry cutter to incorporate it into the flour mixture.
4. In a separate medium sized bowl add the marmalade, orange juice and vanilla.
5. In a small bowl add the eggs and beat, then mix into the marmalade mixture.
6. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and use less than 10 very large stirs to incorporate the ingredients.
7. Use a cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop to add the mix to fill the muffin tin.
8. In a separate small bowl add the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, melted butter and salt and mix well. Top each muffin with this mixture. Add wheat germ to the top if desired.
9. Bake for 20-22 minutes for full sized muffins. I used mini muffins also and they baked for about 13-15 minutes.
10. Remove from the pan and cool on wire racks.