Blood Orange and Chocolate Muffins

There's just something magical about citrus fruits that are in season: the plump sections of an orange fairly burst with bright, sparkling juices... In the United States, oranges are at their best during the winter months, and this season is no exception! 
Because of this citrusy abundance, there has been a proliferation of orange-inspired recipes on the internet of late(see here and here), and after doing some research in the muffin section of my handy dandy Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook, I'm jumping on the bandwagon with one of my own :)

*This recipe is adapted from the "Just Muffins" recipe in the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook.

Ingredients:

   Dry:   

• 1 and 1/2 cups of unbleached AP flour, sifted
• 3 T of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 5 T of turbinado sugar
• 2 t of baking powder
• 1 t of salt

   Wet:

• 1 blackened (and therefore ripe!) banana, mashed
• 1 T of flax seeds, ground
• 3 T of warm water
• 3 caps of vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 navel orange
• 1 blood orange

*My modification of the original recipe called for less sugar, but so much cocoa makes for a VERY strongly flavored muffin which not everyone may like, so you could up the sugar to 5 T or brush the muffins with a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated on the stovetop until dissolved, and then cooled before application), which will give them that extra *pop* of sweetness :)


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Grease your muffin tin.
3. Combine all dry ingredients together, and mix all wet ingredients together UP TO THE MILK.
4. Peel the oranges and process or juice (I used my food processor!).
5. Measure out 1/2 cup of orange juice (you can keep the pulp: it adds more fiber).
6. Add to the 1/2 cup of milk, which will make the milk curdle because of the acid.
7. Add this mixture to the other wet ingredients and mix until combined (do not overmix!).
8. Spoon your fluffy batter into the muffin tin, filling each cup 3/4 of the way to the top
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Don't the oranges look like rubies?:)

 Look at all that yummy juice!

 The wets:

 Grinding the flax seeds:

 And mashing the banana:

Muffins, deconstructed:

 All the dries together:

 Adding the wet to the dry:

 It looks like a fluffy chocolate mousse!

And they're out of the oven!

With a sprinkling of sugar snow :) 

What new/unusual fruit have you tried lately?