Orange Muffins - #MuffinMonday

Some months ago, a Food52 article appeared in my Facebook feed. It had the typical click-bait headline ( "Magical New Egg Replacement!") and I almost skipped over it. But then I became curious. From time to time, I do bake eggless treats and I have a friend who is allergic to eggs (sometimes) so I thought I'd check it out, if only to share the information with her.

"... the watery dregs from cans of chickpeas are the incredible, edible egg replacement we've been looking for."

Say what now?! We're not even blending up the chickpeas? Just pouring off the liquid and using that?! Is it April Fools Day? I kept digging and digging and there were more and more articles and an entire Facebook group dedicated to this "miracle". I spent a long time reading and it did not seem to be a joke. I did remember that the liquid from cooking chickpeas can become a bit gelatinous after refrigeration so perhaps these people were only slightly crazy. They were making meringues and pavlova with the stuff though - not just throwing it into a muffin.

The next time I cooked a batch of chickpeas in my slow cooker, I saved the liquid. (Oh, I should use the term that they use - aquafaba. Chickpea liquid, chickpea brine...those don't have a nice enough ring - this is aquafaba.) I just never had time to whip the stuff or bake with it so I eventually threw it away and never thought of aquafaba again.

Nice tops!

I remembered aquafaba again when I was trying to figure out what to make for my chickpea fudge post. I almost used the aquafaba then but decided to save aquafaba's debut (on my blog, that is) for Muffin Monday. Between you and me, I think I was still a little hesitant to whip the stuff into some honey butter. Yes! They do make butter from this stuff. And "mayo" too. It is indeed miraculous.

I kept things simple with an orange muffin. Do you know how hard it was to find an exemplar recipe? Almost every orange muffin recipe had another major ingredient added in. Orange + cranberries were pretty popular but I wanted the oranges to shine. I don't (can't) eat oranges often so they weren't going to share the stage with anything else in my muffins - except for the aquafaba, of course. But I assure you, if I didn't tell you there was chickpea liquid in these muffins, you'd have no idea. I'm still reeling from black bean brownies that tasted like black beans so I wouldn't lie to you. I am assured that it is the same with the meringues and buttercreams that people have made. I promise to do more experimenting and report soon. For now, enjoy these lovely muffins and be sure to check out the other #MuffinMonday muffins after the recipe.

Orange Muffins Recipe by: Kelly

Yield: ~8 muffins

Ingredients Topping 3 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon orange zest Muffins 2 cups (240g) all purpose flour  1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar 3 tablespoons orange zest 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons milk  1/4 cup oil 1/4 cup orange juice 3 tablespoons aquafaba (chickpea water/brine)

Directions Preheat oven to 425 F. Grease the wells of a muffin pan or line with cupcake liners. For the topping, rub together the sugar and orange zest for a few minutes then set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, rub together the sugar and orange zest for several minutes to release the oils. Next whisk in milk, oil, orange juice and the aquafaba,  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold until just mixed. I try not to do more than 10 stirs.  Divide the batter among the muffin wells. I got 8 muffins filling my wells almost to the top.  Sprinkle the topping on each muffin.  Bake for 5 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 375F. Bake for another 10-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

Notes One fairly large orange gave me 3 tablespoons of zest so I needed two oranges to get enough for the topping as well. Be gentle! Don't overmix.

• Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Chip Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cinnamon Pear Muffins from Making Miracles
• Coconut Lime Mango Muffins from The Spiced Life
• Glazed Orange Poppyseed Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Gouda Herb Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Nutmeg Banana Muffins from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Orange Muffins from Passion Kneaded

 #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.