March Muffin Madness: The Final, Part 1: Orange Honey Chocolate Chip Muffins
This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays and Allergy-Free Wednesday.
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Shelly! Shelly’s comment was: “I am sneaking in just under the wire! These muffins look amazing!”
I am not always crazy about orange-flavored foods unless there’s another complementary flavor. Like rosemary in the Orange Rosemary Pecans from Hail Merry. Or like cranberry. As in Orange Cranberry Muffins or Orange Cranberry Granola. Or like chocolate. Orange and chocolate definitely go together very well. I have enjoyed orange and chocolate together in candies for years and especially love truffles made with Grand Marnier. But my favorite orange chocolate combo is Double Chocolate Clementine Cake, another flourless creation here on gfe. Until now. The Double-Chocolate Clementine Cake is a star without a doubt, but it’s not the kind of treat you want to make often. It’s a bit of intensity. Good intensity, but still ideal only for an occasional indulgence. Today’s entry for March Muffin Madness, these light Orange Honey Chocolate Chip Muffins are another matter though. These muffins are light in texture and even the orange taste, but are nicely punctuated by the addition of chocolate chips. These would make for a lovely treat just about any time.
You can scroll down for more photos and the recipe, but let’s talk about the giveaway that goes with Part 1 of the March Muffin Madness final. I’m giving away a 6-pack of Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips, six 10-ounce bags, to ONE reader. This giveaway ends Friday, April 6, at midnight Eastern. You my simply leave a comment to enter the giveaway; that is the only required entry. For additional entries, share with others via social media however you like and leave a comment telling how you shared.
I’ll be back with Part 2 of the March Muffin Madness final later, but here’s your recipe.
Orange Honey Chocolate Chip Muffins (Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, with Vegan Option)
(Click here for a printable version of this recipe.)Muffin Ingredients
2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (see notes)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup orange juice (see notes)
1 tsp orange zest (optional, more or less to taste)
1/3 cup honey (or agave nectar for vegan version)
1/3 cup extra light olive oil
½ cup unsweetened applesauce (or 1/2 cup mashed banana)
1 egg or flax egg (1 tbsp flax meal plus 3 tbsp hot water)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional; I use either Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips or Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips)Muffin Topping Ingredients
½ cup coconut oil, liquefied
½ cup coconut or palm sugarDirections
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease muffin cups or line with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in remaining ingredients, whisking if needed to break up any clumps of flour.
Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. (Recipe makes 12 muffins.)
Bake at 375F until golden orange, about 15 to 20 minutes. Check doneness with a toothpick.
Let muffins cool about 5 minutes, just long enough to be able to handle them safely. Dip tops of hot muffins in coconut oil, then into coconut sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Shirley’s Notes: I used my gluten-free all-purpose flour mix, which is three parts Asian white rice flour and two parts cornstarch. When I do use a gluten-free all-purpose flour mix, this mix is my “go to” recipe. I mix up 5-lb batches in a large bowl and then portion out to individual containers/canisters for future use. I can’t tolerate and don’t care for many other gluten-free flours like sorghum, garbanzo bean flour, and buckwheat, but feel free to use your favorite gluten-free all-purpose flour mix. For a more intense orange flavor, be sure to add the orange zest. You may also substitute part of the orange juice amount with orange juice concentrate as another way to create a more intense orange flavor if you’d like. I’d recommend one to two teaspoons of orange juice concentrate as part of the ½ cup measurement. (Add concentrate to measuring cup first and then fill with orange juice to ½ cup line.)
Inspired by Rodale’s Orange-Honey Muffins recipe
You can see the complete muffin roundup here!
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Comments
62 Responses to “March Muffin Madness: The Final, Part 1: Orange Honey Chocolate Chip Muffins”
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These look really yummy! I’m not much of an experimental cook so I am always grateful to all of you bloggers who share these great recipes. Thanks!
I love the flavour of these muffins! Chocolate and orange were made for each other!
Adding these to my list of recipes to try out soon! Muffins are handy to have around in the summer as an easy snack to throw in the bag and take along on adventures – and cheaper than granola-type bars.
These look delicious and I love using Enjoy Life products!
I do a lot of baking and would love to try these chips!
I’d like to try these in my dark chocolate chocolate chip muffins.
yum! i’d LOVE to win that many chocolate chips. enjoy life is the BEST brand!!
These look amazing! My 3 year old will love them without chocolate chips and I will love them with the chocolate. He doesn’t like chocolate at all and I can’t get enough!
Mmmm! I would love to be the winner!
Chocolate, YUM!!!! PICK ME!
I just used Enjoy Life mini chips in my granola recipe yesterday! What an awesome giveaway!
Oh, these are the best chips. Even with all my food issues I can eat them and enjoy them! Would LOVE to receive these in the mail!
I always look at these chips in the store but have a hard time buying because of the cost. It’s one reason I don’t make chocolate chip anything anymore.
I would love to win this! The crumb on your muffins looks fabulous – well done!
Thank you.
What a great idea! I can’t eat rice until I heal from leaky gut, but I’ll try to modify this recipe using a coconut muffin as a base.
Love the recipe and great giveaway!!! Yummy!
Great giveaway! Those muffins look delightful!
now that’s a giveaway I can’t resist entering into!! Those muffins look divine and I LOVE enjoy life chips! I keep them in the freezer at eat a handful (or 2 or 3…) as a snack when I’m craving something sweet.
I can just imagine how good those muffins must smell when they are coming out of the oven! Thanks for the chance to win the mini chocolate chips.
Anything with chocolate chips added has to be good! Thank you for the giveaway.
These look wonderful. Muffins with chocolate chips. What
could be better.
I love these chocolate chips but find them rather expensive around here. Plus, they are harder for me to get. Love to Win.
Shirley, we love Enjoy Life chocolate chips at our house — of course, they’d go pretty fast too! thanks for a great giveaway!!
Love the orange and chocolate chip together! i think chocolate makes everything yummier. it would be so much fun to get all those choc chips:)
yes please!
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I spend way too much money on those chocolate chips… they just disappear so quickly in my kitchen!! I would love to win some! the muffins sound delicious as well
liked you on Facebook!
Chocolate chips are one of my favorite snacks!
Thanks for the recipe! My brother would love it. I’m working on a grain-free coconut muffin recipe right now, but it is so dense!
These look good! I look forward to trying them!
Mmmm these remind me of the chocolate oranges we have on Christmas! Yum!
Orange and choc is just the perfect combination
I doubt I’m eligible to win the giveaway as I’m in the UK but I’d definitely be making a lot of those muffins if I did win!
Love Enjoy Life’s mini chocolate chips !
Yum! Looks deelish! I have an orange/rosemary/cornmeal muffin recipe I really should adapt. It also has pine nuts in it, which I adore, but don’t care to sell a kidney to buy them so I sub in sunflower seeds!
Love enjoy life!! What a delicious spring giveaway! Thanks for the chance to enter. Looking forward to making some of the different muffin recipes:)
Looks yummy
These muffins look very yummy!! And I love enjoy life chocolate chips!!
Shirley, I love the sound of these muffins – orange and chocolate are such a wonderful combination.
The muffins look delicious — and I love these chocolate chips! Thanks for the giveaway…if I win at least some are destined for homemade reese’s cups (nom nom).
Thanks for the giveaway!
New to gf – looking forward to trying these!
Shared via Pinterest!
With as much baking as I do, I could really use these chocolate chips!!
Orange AND chocolate chip? YUM!
I love enjoy life chips.. they are fantastic!!
LOVE chocolate & orange together!!
These muffins sound yummy. Thank you.
I am sneaking in just under the wire! These muffins look amazing!
I tweeted!
I shared on FB!
How did I totally miss this till now???? I’m a muffin maniac!!
Oh my goodness! I never would have expected that!!
thank you Shirley!!!
The flavors on these muffins are perfect Shirley! Orange +Honey + Chocolate = Out of this world! Thank you so much for sharing your great recipe on Allergy-Free Wednesdays! Be sure to check back next week for recipe highlights (including the top 3 reader choice submissions and hostess favorites).
Be Well!
Hello, do you think I could omit the applesauce? Or maybe replace it with a mashed banana?
Hi Darja–Welcome to gfe! I think banana would be even better honestly. I love the flavor and texture that mashed banana adds to muffins.
Fingers crossed that you’ll like the results!
Shirley
Hello again (: So I did try these with mashed banana, and they came out just perfect. What a great recipe, you can’t be too far away from these muffins
Thanks for the recipe! Good luck!
Hi Darja–What terrific news! I’m going to update the recipe to show that substitution option. Thank you so much for coming back to let me know! I’m so very happy they turned out so well for you!
Shirley
I found this recipe this morning. I can’t use many GF flour mixes as they contain flours my son is allergic to. I did notice you used rice flour and cornstarch in the notes, did you use a gum as well? If so how much?
I made this this morning. I used 1 1/3 c rice flour, 2/3c cornstarch, and 1 tsp xanthan gum. I also subbed the olive oil for canola and the egg for ener-g egg replacer for my son’s allergies/diet. Also left out the chocolate chips as we don’t currently have any enjoy life right now and didn’t top them. I think 15mins is a bit long for my oven since they burned slightly on the bottom and stuck to the wrappers, but they were well loved and my toddler kept trying to steal them.
Hi Star–Welcome to gfe!
Sorry for the delay in replying; I’ve been offline with a friend visiting. I made the muffins without xanthan gum, but xanthan gum can certainly be added as you confirmed. I’m not sure if your changes were the cause of a shorter baking time, but I’m so glad your version of these muffins still worked out and that your son enjoyed them so much!
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Shirley