A warm and comforting combination of whole-wheat flour, sweet potatoes, warm spices and tangy orange make these muffins perfect for breakfast or a snack.
Sweet Potato and Orange Muffins
Ingredients
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
⅔ cup whole-wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¾ cup mashed sweet potatoes (cooked from fresh or canned and drained)
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
⅔ cup orange juice
¼ cup grated carrot
¾ teaspoon vanilla
Directions
- Wash hands with soap and water.
- Rinse or scrub fresh vegetables under running water before preparing.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin tins for 12 muffins.
- In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- In a separate bowl, combine sweet potatoes, brown sugar, eggs, orange juice, carrots and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients. Stir gently until flour is moistened.
- Fill muffin tins ¾ full. Bake 20 minutes or until tops are browned and bounce back when touched lightly in the center.
- Cool 5 minutes and loosen around the edge of each muffin to remove from tins.
- Cool completely then store in an air-tight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Add 2 teaspoons orange zest for even more orange flavor. Grate or peel and chop the colored part of the orange peel only. Freeze extra zest for up to 3 months.
- No orange juice? Use pineapple juice.
- No sweet potatoes? Use canned or frozen and thawed pumpkin purée.
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Comments
This recipe worked well for me. I shared it at a park pop-up event and just about everyone liked it. Many kids would give it a thumbs up and parents would take the recipe saying they'd try it at home. I made mini muffins for a sample size. They were moist and flavorful. I love that these have two veggies, fruit, and whole wheat making them healthy and nutritious while still tasting great.
I sampled this recipe at a pantry meeting, and noticed that the taste of the leaveners was really strong. I made it myself and noticed it again, so in the next batch I cut it down to 1 teaspoon of baking powder and baking soda each. They still rise well and the taste improved.
I also used pumpkin instead of sweet potato for our pantry demo and it turned out really well!
In reply to I sampled this recipe at a… by Lydia Bowman
Lydia, thanks very much for your comments. We will try this recipe again to consider a change to the amount of leavening. And thanks for trying them with squash as an ingredient - we appreciate knowing how adaptable the Food Hero recipes are.
I didn't have orange juice or enough sweet potato leftovers when I made this. I substituted pineapple juice for the orange juice and used half sweet potatoe and half pumpkin. I also doubled it and it turned out great in both mini and regular muffins as well as a small loaf. While I missed the orange juice flavor, the pineapple juice still came through with a tropical flare.
We recently revised this recipe to make only 12 muffins since that is the standard number of muffins in a muffin tin. This recipe does best when baked immediately after the batter is mixed. Enjoy!
The Food Hero Team