blue artichoke

After the subpar lemon poppyseed muffins last Sunday, I decided to try another citrus muffin this weekend. Gentleman Caller had a preview sample of the orange tea muffins last night, and woke up this morning in eager anticipation of breakfast. With his rave review, I too was looking forward to some superawesome orange muffins. I had covered the muffins with some foil and left them out on the back table over night, and I joked with GC that the muffins turned bad overnight, or that Fat Larry had peed on them and we wouldn't be able to eat them. Yeah, sometimes I'm mean. But sometimes I'm right. The muffins hadn't turned bad or soaked up Fat Larry urine, no, they attracted a swarm of ants. There was a considerable trail from underneath the back door, across the floor, up the chair leg, over a pillow, up the tablecloth, across the table, through the cooling rack and into the muffin pan. And there were even more swarming over most of the muffins. Aack! How can these little critters smell the sweet delicousness of these muffins from outside? There were two untouched muffins and three with few ants nearby, so I bravely salvaged those and sprayed the rest of the muffins and foil with ant-killer spray. I zapped the saved muffins in the microwave to make me feel like I had sterilized them, and, yes, we ate them. I'm sure I've eaten food at picnics that flies and ants have crawled over, so tried to pretend like this was the same thing. Besides, lots of people eat ants. Ants aside, these are fantastic muffins. I just wish I didn't have to share.

You should try these muffins, but when you do, eat them immediately, or put them in an airtight, tightly sealed container locked with fingerprinting technology in a room protected by lasers and alarms. Seriously, keep them away from ants.

Orange Tea Muffins

Centenary Cookbook, sponsored by the Woman’s Society of Christian Service, Centenary Methodist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., 1968

I made a few changes to this recipe. I omitted the nuts and raisins because I didn't want the distraction. I was looking for just an orange muffin. But I did want to follow the recipe just in case raisins really added to the orange flavor, so I made two muffins with raisins, and the rest without. Unfortunately, the raisin muffins were the ants' favorites, so I didn't get to try those. But the plain orange are great as is. I also made regular sized muffins because I only have one mini muffin tray and didn't want to spend the entire afternoon baking muffins in shifts. The recipe made 14 regular muffins. I increased the baking time to 28 minutes, and they were perfectly done. Next time, I think I'll check them at 25 minutes. The muffins are orangey and sweet, but the glaze heightens the flavor. I dipped each muffin top in the glaze three times, waiting between dippings for the glaze to soak in.

½ c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1 t. soda
1 c. sour milk
2 oranges
½ c. raisins
½ c. nuts, if desired

Cream shortening and sugar; add eggs.

Sift dry and add alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Grind orange peel from the oranges and raisin together. Add to batter. Add nuts.

Bake 15 minutes at 350 (or, for regular muffins, 25-28 minutes).

Add ½ c. sugar to juice from oranges and boil 1m. Dip muffins in this mixture after baking. Cool on wax paper.

Makes 8 dozen small muffins or 14 regular muffins.

Getting to Know All About You: Would you eat food that ants have crawled across? What about food that falls on the floor?