Olive Oil Orange Muffins

crisp top, light center, scrumptious all over

I am unreasonably obsessed with Ines Rosales tortas. Whenever my best friend from Spain comes to town, I beg her to bring me a box. The crispy orange tortas with their subtle olive oil flavor are so simple yet so divine. They make me feel like a fancy little girl in a fancy little world, and I feel like we all deserve to feel that way sometimes. These muffins perfectly capture the simple perfection of the marriage between olive oil and orange.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tsps baking powder

• 3/4 tsp table salt

• 1 cup olive oil

• 1 tbsp orange zest

• 2 cups white sugar

• 2 eggs, room temperature

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, or extract

• 2/3 cup orange juice

• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and prepare a muffin tin with muffin liners or parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the olive oil, orange zest, and 1 3/4 cups sugar. After beating for two minutes, add in the eggs and vanilla. When fully combined, continue mixing while gradually streaming in the orange juice, half of the dry ingredient mixture, the cream, and the remaining dry ingredient mixture. Stop mixing when fully combined.

4. Pour the muffin batter 3/4 of the way to the top of the muffin liners.

5. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the muffins, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

6. Remove from the oven, and let the muffins cool for at least 5 minutes.

7. Enjoy!