Anytime Orange Muffins

This recipe is from Bon Appétit, though I don’t see it on their website. It’s from Café Mutton, one of their best new restaurants of 2022. The original instructions specify that you need the tall paper liners here for the muffins to rise properly, and that you must use regular granulated sugar for the top instead of trying to go fancy with demerara or turbinado. The sugar just helped the top get nice and crisp, but wasn’t otherwise detectable. These muffins should NOT be stored in an airtight container, or they will look their charmingly crisp top! As for the paper liners, I used the kind pictured below (tall tulip liners rather than the short crinkly kind), but I think that it wasn’t necessary to grease the top of the muffin tin since the batter was contained. 

2 1/3 cups (292 g) all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat flour) 

2 tsp. baking powder 

1 tsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt 

1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest 

1 ¾ cups (350 g) sugar, plus more for sprinkling 

1 cup (2 sticks) lactose-free butter, at room temperature 

2 large eggs 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

1/3 cup fresh orange juice 

1 cup lactose-free (or vegan) half-and-half 

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with tall paper liners. Grease flat top of pan to prevent sticking (I did this, but didn’t find it necessary – adjust based on what type of paper liner you are using, I guess). 

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. 

Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, mix orange zest and 1 ¾ cups (350 g) sugar in a large bowl until combined and vert fragrant, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high, add butter, and beat until combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Beat in vanilla. 

Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and alternate adding orange juice, dry ingredients, and half-and-half, one third at a time, mixing until incorporated after each addition. Let batter sit at room temperature 10 minutes. 

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (batter will come to the very top) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake muffins until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes (I baked mine for 25 minutes, but should have left them in the oven a few minutes longer). Let cool in a pan 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.