I love this doughnut muffin recipe from King Arthur Flour because not only does it leave itself open to adaptation, but it pretty much encourages it. I used it as a jumping off point to make orange donut muffins and I have to say that when you factor everything into the delicious recipe equation, I love it at least as much as I love orange yeast rolls. You start with a recipe for a perfectly vanilla, slightly crumbly muffin that is reminiscent of cake donuts, and then you can add whatever suits your fancy.
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Muffins
- Butter – Use real butter.
- Vegetable oil
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Orange zest
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Table salt
- Vanilla
- Orange extract – Optional.
- All-purpose flour
- Buttermilk
Glaze
- Butter
- Orange zest
- Powdered sugar
How to Make Buttermilk Orange Donut Muffins
- Line a muffin tin with liners. I usually get about 15 muffins.
- Zest the orange and set aside. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, oil, and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and orange zest and beat until smooth. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Alternately add the flour and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour, mixing completely after each addition.
- Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tins (I used a 1/4 cup cookie/ice cream scoop and it worked perfectly) and bake.
- When the muffins are cool, melt a little butter in a small mixing bowl. Add the zest of another orange. Slowly whisk in some powdered sugar, beating thoroughly to eliminate any lumps. When you’ve added 1 cup of powdered sugar, it should look like moist frosting. Whisk in a few tablespoons of buttermilk until a smooth glaze consistency is reached.
- Grab each cooled muffin by the bottom and dip it into the glaze. Allow the glaze to set up before serving (or don’t…we’re talking about glazed donut-like things here…it’s hard to go wrong). Makes 12-15 muffins.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store cooled muffins in an airtight container and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- Other flavors: lemon or cinnamon sugar would be delicious here!
- If you need a gluten free version, King Arthur Flour says to simply substitute their gluten free flour blend for the all-purpose flour.
Buttermilk Orange Donut Muffins
The classic flavors of an orange roll come together with the rich texture of a cake donut and the ease of a quick bread in these delightfully sweet muffins.
Servings muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- ¼ cup butter softened
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs large
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon orange extract optional
- 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose white flour lightly spooned into measuring cups and leveled with the back of a knife
- 1 cup buttermilk
Glaze
- ¼ cup butter melted
- zest of 1 orange
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat oven to 425℉. Line a muffin tin (recipe yields 15 standard-size muffins, so plan accordingly) with cupcake liners and set aside.
- Zest the orange and set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, oil, and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and orange rind and beat until smooth.
- Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla (and orange extract, if using) and beat until smooth. Alternately add the flour and buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour, mixing completely after each addition.
- Scoop the batter into the lined muffin tins (I used a ¼ cup cookie/ice cream scoop and it worked perfectly).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until the muffins are golden on top. Remove from oven and cool completely on cooling racks.
Glaze
- When the muffins are cool, melt ¼ cup butter in a small mixing bowl. Add the zest of another orange. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of powdered sugar ¼ cup at a time, beating thoroughly to eliminate any lumps. When you've added 1 cup of powdered sugar, it should look like moist frosting. Whisk in a few tablespoons of buttermilk until a smooth glaze consistency is reached.
- Grab each cooled muffin by the bottom and dip it into the glaze. Allow the glaze to set up before serving.
Notes
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- Store cooled muffins in an airtight container and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
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- Other flavors: lemon or cinnamon sugar would be delicious here!
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- If you need a gluten free version, King Arthur Flour says to simply substitute their gluten free flour blend for the all-purpose flour.
Nutrition
Calories: 181kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.3g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 252mg, Potassium: 39mg, Fiber: 0.001g, Sugar: 20g, Vitamin A: 247IU, Calcium: 51mg, Iron: 0.2mg
Calories: 181kcal
Cost: $5
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Questions & Reviews
Question–I bought some buttermilk for another recipe that I never ended up making. The person who stamped the expiration date on the buttermilk, must have been distracted and dreaming of eating muffins like yours, as it is unreadable. After searching online for awhile to see about how long unopened buttermilk lasts, or how to tell if it is expired and seeing such a discrepancy between answers–thought I’d just ask the girls who know. How do you tell if its bad, assuming it is not moldy or chunky? And if cooked, will it be ok? And, I can’t wait to try these!
Hey Kate. I know this post was way back when, but I’m making these for my daughters class and wondering if you think mini size muffins would work for this recipe? Thank you so much!!
I just made them as mini muffins. I think they turned out great!
These were sadly not as good as the photo looks! I guess I expected a more citrusy flavor with all that orange zest. Maybe lemon juice in the glaze would have done it for me? Not bad, but not a new favorite or anything. Mine burned on the bottom a bit, too.
Update: Just offered some of them to my siblings. (6 & 7)Took one look at them, “Um, actually I don’t want one.” HOW?! Well no problem there with me! I’m not stopping them! But seriously, who could refuse a fluffy, warm, orange glazed muffin? Not me, thats for sure. But the bottoms of the muffins WERE slightly burnt. What went wrong there? I baked them for 15 minutes on 425! To fix it I just sliced a sliver of the bottom off, and they were fine.
Oh. My. Gosh. Just tasted one of these, still warm from the oven (no glaze)
and it was soft and moist and fluffy. I thought, “Who would ever need glaze on there? It’s awesome without it!” Oh boy. Was I WRONG! The glaze is as awesome, if not better than the muffin itself. There was leftover glaze, and I ate it straight out of the bowl, and had about 3 muffins in the last 10 minutes. These are now my official favorite muffins. Thank you so much Kate!
Made these for Gen Conf morning. My family loved them! I did not have any problems with the glaze curdling. In fact, even though I’m not really a glaze person, I loved the stuff and kept swiping little tastes of it off the sides of the bowl. I had leftover glaze and finally had to just tell myself to STOP and get rid of the extra rather than eat it! I did order the same scoop for the batter that you recommended to an earlier commenter. I love it! It will be great to have for all future muffins.
I have a word of warning for anyone desperate like myself… I somehow managed to let myself run really low on flour. No biggie, I’ll just make half the recipe, right?.. still not enough flour. So, if you happen to be in my situation and also happen to have cake flour and whole wheat flour, step away from the mixer, because your muffins won’t have the texture of any kind of donut ever. (I used both cake flour and whole wheat flour, secretly hoping they would somehow balance each other out. Nope!) And then the glaze is so delicious it totally overwhelms the totally ordinary muffin until you find yourself wishing you were only eating that concoction of butter, sugar, and zest. Mmm. I might give these another shot since they were quite easy, but for the moment I require another orange. And more flour.
Oh, my gosh, Diane, thanks so much for sharing! It made my afternoon! 🙂
this might seem like a stupid question, but can i make this without using the cupcake liners? i dont want to make them then have them turn into a (delicious) pile of crumbs the minute i try to get them out of the pan. if i butter and flour the tin would it work? thanks
Yep, TOTALLY fine! 🙂
SAY WHAT?! Orange-Kissed Cookies muffin style?!!
I made these for Easter morning and I must say they MADE the morning. They were super quick to whip up….Which saved the children from trying to eat every bit of candy they could get their hands on before breakfast came out. I did have some trouble with the glaze, mine turned out lumpy and ugly…so I melted down some white chocolate and added it in and WIN!!
Thanks for another go to recipe, you ladies rock.
I just made this and it was AMAZING! Seriously… I can’t wait to make this for like everyone I know! Thanks for such a good recipe!