Wordless Wednesday VII

Two things that make every day a little brighter:

Tea and Muffins.

Blood orange herbal tea. Because some people react poorly to caffeinated tea.

Orange and raisin muffins. Yum!

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The not so Wordless portion of the day:

Orange Muffins
From the Colorado Cache Cookbook

1 c sugar (It can be a lot less if you want the dip to be less sweet.)
Juice of 1 orange (about 1/2 c)
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
3/4 c sour cream
2 c flour, sifted (I just stir it with a whisk, because really! Do I have time to sift flour for muffins? Neh! For a cake? Sure! But not for muffins.)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp grated orange zest/rind (The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon. That's waaaay too little!)
1/2 c raisins (To plump up the raisins, boil some water and add raisins, extra orange zest and/or orange juice and let it steep together while you make the muffins until you need the raisins. The longer, the better. As a matter of fact, consider this your first step!)
1/2 c chopped nuts (I left these out due to Caitlin's allergy. I bet they'd taste good toasted, though!)

1. Combine raisins, boiling water to cover, some orange zest and some orange juice in a dish. Let soak until step 5.
2. Mix sugar and orange juice. Set aside for dipping after muffins are cooked.
3. Cream butter and sugar.
4. Place dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add sour cream alternately with dry ingredients to creamed mixture.
5. Fold in orange zest, drained raisins and nuts. This is a stiff batter, try not to over mix.
6. Use well greased muffin tins. (Original recipe calls for mini muffin tins, but I don't have those, so I just used regular ones. Works just fine, but the time to bake increase to about 20 minutes here.) Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.
7. While still warm, dip in reserved sugar-orange juice mixture and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!