Baking is great therapy. Just had your heart broken? Bake a big batch of gooey chocolatey cookies. Stressed about your college final tomorrow? Bake muffins tonight.
Thats how I found myself making these deliciously light, zesty citrus muffins with orange-lemon glaze. They're slightly sweet and perfectly moist, and the glaze adds just the right amount of zing (you can also skip the glaze; they're wonderful without it, too!). Trust me, they're addictive--I've already eaten far too many. Calories don't count during finals, right?
This recipe was adapted from 17 and Baking's coconut grapefruit cupcakes. The topping was adapted from Martha Stewart's lemon glaze.
For the citrus muffins:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sweetened, shredded coconut
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened light coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of one grapefruit
zest of one orange
Set the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, coconut, butter, sugars, eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the zest of one large grapefruit and one large orange. Mix well with a whisk.
Fill cupcake tins 3/4 of the way with batter, and bake at 350 degrees for between 13-20 minutes, depending on cupcake size. This recipe made 12 large cupcakes (which baked for about 15-20 minutes) and 30 tiny ones (which baked for 13 and a half minutes).
For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
Zest of one large orange
1/6 cup fresh lemon juice
1/6 cup fresh orange juice
Whisk the ingredients together until well combined. If the mixture is too watery, add more lemon or orange juice; if it is too dry, add more powdered sugar. When the muffins are completely cool use your finger to lightly glaze the top of each muffin. Allow the glaze to harden (about and hour) and enjoy!
