Mandarin orange muffins have wonderful orange citrus flavor and are topped with crystal sugar and a tangy orange glaze.
Mandarin Orange Muffins
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
My recipe of the day is for mandarin orange muffins with the Muffin Monday group.
The end of December meant getting to the end of the holiday season, so I was digging in my pantry to see what I needed to use up and found a package of dried mandarin oranges that I had bought at Trader Joe’s.
I have recently done some things where I stewed dried fruits to use in baked goods that turned out exceptionally well, I thought I might do the same in some muffins.
Besides, I love oranges in baked goods anyway, and wanted to see if I could control the moisture that oranges would impart. As it turns out, the dried ones are perfect after being softened up. All that is needed from there is to measure how much moisture is left by straining and pressing them, then adding that measure of liquid back in the right amount.
Baking is formulaic, after all. It doesn’t mean you can’t play around with recipes, but it does mean there are fairly strict proportions of ingredients that need to be followed.
- Blueberry Banana Oat Breakfast Muffins from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Lemon Crumb Muffins from Making Miracles
- Mandarin Orange Muffins from Palatable Pastime (You are Here!)
- Rosemary Muffins from Passion Kneaded
- Rum Glazed Colada Muffins from Food Lust People Love
- Sweet Potato Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.
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Mandarin Orange Muffins

Mandarin Orange Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup melted butter cooled
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-1/2 ounces dried chopped mandarin oranges not slices
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 teaspoon orange juice
- 2 tbsp sparkling crystal sugars (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Stew the pieces of chopped dried oranges in orange juice until soft, then drain and press in a sieve to remove most of the liquid.
- Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid or amend with additional orange juice.
- Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, adding the stewed oranges and the quarter cup liquid to the wet, then combine everything to make batter, being sure not to overmix.
- Place batter in greased muffin cups or in cupcake paper lined muffin tin, about half to 2/3 full.
- Bake 20-25 minutes (I did 22) and cool in pan a few minutes before turning out to cool completely.
- After cooling, stir together the glaze and spoon it over the muffins, sprinkle with some coarse crystal sugars, and allow to set up and dry.
We have a Trader Joe’s not too far from our house but it’s not on my regular route anywhere so I rarely go, but those dried oranges sound like the perfect thing to keep in a store cupboard against a rainy day when I need the sunshine of oranges. Lovely muffins, Sue!
I love all their dried fruits, even if they aren’t always in stock. If they are out you can also try online- I’ve seen another brand (just not the round slices as you don’t want the peel). They sometimes have some nice dried currants too which aren’t dessicated to death and I will be watching to try and grab some of those for St. Patty’s Day baking.
I’m going to have to check out Trader Joe’s for those oranges! I love how you saved the soaking water for the muffins.
That’s actually juice I cooked them in to punch the flavor bigger. You could use water but it would probably have a bit less orange flavor.
We love mandarins. I have never seen them dried. I will have to keep my eyes open
You can check both Trader Joe’s and also they have them online.