Orange Chocolate Chunk Muffins

This is a recipe I saw on Annie's Eats recently. Dark chocolate and orange are probably one of my very favorite flavor combinations so I marked it as a "must try soon!" recipe.

These were very easy to throw together using basic ingredients most people already have on hand. As they bake, the smell of the orange filling your kitchen is intoxicating. I baked them late one night (around midnight) and just had to try one before I went to bed!

Since this made about a dozen muffins, and Jason isn't a big dark chocolate fan, I took most of them to work and asked for some input from my food loving colleagues. I thought it was a good recipe but not as moist as I would have expected - my friends at work agreed. Don't get me wrong - they are very tasty - they are just drier in texture than I would have expected. Since I know very little about baking, it's hard for me to even guess why that would be. Even still, if you're a chocolate orange fan, give these a try. You won't be disappointed!

(Annie used blood oranges in hers, which my store was out of, so I used regular oranges. Maybe that would have made a difference? Feel free to use any type of orange!)

Orange Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Yield: 12-14 muffins

For the muffins:
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. coarse salt
Grated zest of 3 oranges
4-6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the glaze:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. Whisk to blend. Stir the chocolate chunks into the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl combine the melted butter, orange juice, vanilla and eggs. Whisk to blend. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and fold together gently just until combined. Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, filling about ¾ full.

Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan briefly, then transfer to a wire rack.

While the muffins are baking, making the glaze. Combine the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Brush warm glaze over the muffins as they cool.