sunrise muffins - orange pulp, dried cranberries, and nuts

It all started with Whole Foods. On the weekends, there's a dude squeezing oranges and selling fresh-squeezed OJ and it's just about the best tasting thing ever. But as most things are with Whole Foods, it's a little pricey, so my mom and I decided to make our own. Usually when I juice, I throw out the leftover pulp (I know, boo me), but this time there was so much orange pulp that it seemed a horrible waste to just get rid of it. Plus, it tastes pretty good by itself? Anyways, I decided to bake them into something, which gets us to these muffins.

These muffins are great for breakfast. Not too sweet, they're chock full of good stuff - fruits, nuts, oats, flax seed - to start your day off right. Plus, despite the daunting ingredients list, they're a cinch to whip together. Nothing more than measuring cups, two bowls, and a spoon needed.

They don't rise very much (or, like, at all), but they're not dense at all, and are wonderfully moist inside. I'm actually kind of surprised these turned out so well the first time, but I'm not complaining!

apparently neither is ruby

Also, it's the last day of my 30 days of blogging! Hallelujah.

SUNRISE MUFFINS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup traditional rolled oats
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon*
1/4 tsp ground ginger*
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg*
1/8 tsp ground cloves*
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup neutral-flavored oil (e.g. canola, vegetable, grapeseed)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup orange pulp (from 8lbs oranges)

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, flax, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, making sure there are no lumps. Mix in the rest of the dry ingredients - oats, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, cranberries, walnuts, and brown sugar. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the orange juice, oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract until combined. Stir in the orange pulp.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir just until combined. Fill the muffin tin all the way to the top.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, and then pull out the muffins onto the cooling rack.

*Note: the spices can be substituted with 1 heaping teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

Makes 18 muffins