Orange and Cardamom Muffins ~ delicately fragrant muffins flavored with bright orange zest and warm, spicy cardamom, this easy muffin recipe is unique and delicious!
For a quick, easy, comforting breakfast, nothing beats my homemade orange and cardamom muffin recipe!
Is anybody making muffins anymore? It seems like they’ve totally gone out of fashion, right? But every time I make a batch I’m reminded of why I love them. These orange and cardamom muffins bake up so nice and tall, with a sugary crust on top, how could you resist? I don’t know why I thought of combining citrus with cardamom, I don’t think I’ve done it on the blog before, but boy, it’s so perfect. Neither taste is overpowering but they blend beautifully. The aroma is especially great when they’re just out of the oven, Definitely going to use this combo again!
You know I love my one bowl no-mixer recipes
They make baking from scratch so much more do-able. There’s less mess, and less lag time between the inspiration to bake and your first bite. Just grab your bowl and a whisk and you’re off to the races.
A plain muffin needs a little something something on the top, right?
I used my favorite Sparkling Sugar to add a little glitz and a sweet crunch. Less homey, more coffee shop. You could use regular sugar if that’s all you’ve got, but sparkling sugar has a bigger crystal and a great texture. I recommend picking some up from Amazon.
Muffins are nice to have around because they’re already pre-portioned and they keep well. Pop day old muffins in the micro for 20 seconds to revive that amazing aroma. They’re special enough for office potluck parties, especially in winter when a cozy muffin is everything.
One of the saving graces of deep winter is all the juicy citrus that comes into season.
It’s surprising how many different ways you can incorporate citrus into baking. In this recipe I use the juice and zest of the orange, but it’s the zest that really brings the orange flavor home. The outer orange colored part of the peel, or the zest, contains the flavor and aroma oils, which provide the true essence of the fruit flavor. The more you use, the more flavor payoff you’ll get.
How to zest an orange
- The zest of citrus fruit is the very outer part of the peel…the part that is colored.
- When you zest citrus fruit you are looking to remove just that outer colored part, with as little as possible of the white part underneath, which is bitter.
- I highly recommend using a citrus zester, which is a tool specifically created to do the job.
- Be sure to zest your fruit before cutting or juicing!
- Zest your fruit as close to adding it to your recipe as possible, because the oils start to dissipate quickly.
More wintery breakfast ideas ~
- Warm Maple Oat Nut Smoothie
- Fresh Tangerine Scones
- Homemade Chicken Apple Sausage
- Fresh Ginger and Pear Cake
Orange and Cardamom Muffins
Video
Equipment
- standard muffin pan
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- zest of 1 large orange, grated
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Topping
- 3 tbsp sparkling sugar (or regular sugar), Find sparkling sugar on Amazon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and butter a muffin tin, or line with muffin tin liners.
- Whisk together all the wet ingredients well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then add to the wet ingredients and fold everything together until there are no dry bits of flour left.
- Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins, and top with a sprinkling of the sparkling sugar.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes until risen and starting to turn golden brown around the edges. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out without wet batter clinging to it.
Nutrition
My 8 y/o daughter rates these 1 Million out of 10! We love the flavour and light, fluffy texture. Thank you for the excellent recipe.
These turned out great and satisfied my husband’s need for cardamom at the holidays (his mom always made Swedish coffee bread…well beyond my ability to convert to gluten free). I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour with good results. I did need to bake quite a bit longer than written, but I think that is because I have a silicon muffin pan and have to put it on a cookie sheet for rigidity, not because of the flour substitution. Thank you!
We made these yesterday. So good! Next time, we’ll add more zest & more cardamom, though. We thought the flavor as written was subtle & delicious, I’d just like a bit bolder of a flavor.
I made mini-muffins and cooked at 350 for 14 minutes.
Thank you! A new holiday tradition.
Altered recipe to be vegan – substituting Oat milk and 2 flax eggs (also omitted the sugar topping)
Had quite a bit of batter so portioned into 12 muffins.
Turned out so soft, moist, fluffy and absolutely delicious!
Will DEFINITELY be making these again!
Thanks so much for the vegan tips Caleigh.
This recipe is great. I like more spice forward dishes so I added cloves, cinnamon and ginger in. It takes it to a new level.
I’d love to make these as mini muffins.. any recommendations for cooking temp and time?
Mini muffin tins vary in size, but generally bake mini muffins at 350°F for approximately 10-15 minutes.
Absolutely delicious, a total hit at our place. Thanks.
Being of Scandinavian heritage I don’t need convincing to use cardamom. With the orange addition this recipe is 5 star. I have even made it in a loaf pan. You will not be disappointed.
Thanks Ellen ~ I worked on a loaf version, coming out soon!
I’d love to make these as mini muffins.. any recommendations for cooking temp and time?
Fabulous muffins, my favorite flavor combination! So much so that I created an ice cream base with it! I made a vanilla base adding cardamom (1/8 tsp) while on heat, then when cooling I added several drops of the Fleur De Sicilia oil (from King Arthur Baking). Honestly the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Thanks for the inspiration!
I make a bit stronger cardamom ice cream and I agree, it’s an amazing ice cream flavor…I haven’t experimented much with Fleur do Sicilian, I’ll have to get some.
My sister makes cardamom bread as Christmas presents, every year, but I’m too impatient to make yeast bread. I can’t wait to try these. Thank you!
I’m an impatient baker, too. Hope you love these!