If you’re always left with shriveled clementines at the bottom of your fruit bowl, this recipe is a game-changer! Use this trick to turn whole clementines —yup, peels and all!— into delicious crumb-topped muffins your family will fight over.
You see, my kids never seem to make it through the whole bag of clementines “cuties” before a few lose their sparkle. And to be honest, I was tired of forcing myself to eat the squishy dregs that were leftover…
Then I remembered an old-school whole Grapefruit Cake recipe my boss used to make when I worked in the Good Housekeeping test kitchen. It was zesty and moist, super-simple to make and everyone loved it.
Since clementines have thinner skin and no seeds, I decided to skip the boiling part of that classic grapefruit cake recipe and tried whizzing the whole clementines right in the blender with a few basic pantry staples. When I tell you this is now one of my favorite muffin recipes EVER — I promise, you really ought to try this recipe!
Magic Orange Crumb Blender Muffins
Makes: 18-24 muffins
For the muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
5 whole clementines, washed
4 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable, canola or grape seed oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
For the crumb topping:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
2. Make the Muffin Batter: In this order, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, whole clementines, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract to your blender. Blend on low until mostly smooth. Stop the blender, scrape down the sides, and blend again just until combined.
3. Prepare the Crumb Topping: In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Refrigerate to firm up slightly while you finish the muffin prep.
4. Divide the muffin batter evenly among the lined muffin cups. Take the crumb topping out of the fridge and, using your fingers, sprinkle a generous amount onto each muffin.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes until the muffins are puffed, golden and spring back gently when pressed with your fingers. Remove the oven; let cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle the muffin tops with powdered sugar before serving.
Disclosure: when I post products that I recommend, I may receive a small commission from purchases made using my links (at no cost to you). I’ll never share anything on this page that I haven’t either tried (and loved) myself or have on my personal wishlist. Thank you for being here and, if you do use one of my affiliate links, thank you for supporting the companies that allow me to continue making fun, fabulous and free content for you!