Grapefruit Muffins

Since the winter is citrus season, I have been enjoying grapefruit every morning for breakfast. As I was thinking about my next post, I thought it would be interesting to find different uses for grapefruit. I came across this Morning Muffins recipe from “Crumb” by Rudy Tandoh. The recipe only makes 6 muffins because these muffins are best right out of the oven. 

Morning Muffins

1 Pink Grapefruit

3 1/2 T Unsalted Butter, Melted

1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

1 Large Egg

3/4 cup Plain Yogurt

1/2 cup Quick Oats

1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

4 tsp Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the muffin tin with paper liners. 

Zest the whole grapefruit into a large bowl. Cut the grapefruit in half from end to end. Save one half and cut the other half into 6 slices. Peel and remove the pith from every slice—I felt a knife made it easier to maintain the shape of the slice and remove any skin. Set aside.

Combine together the grapefruit zest, melted butter, and brown sugar. Stir in the egg, yogurt, and oats. I by accident grabbed steel cut quick oats at the grocery store. I am curious how much it impacted the texture. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the zest mixture and stir until just combined. Don’t over stir because it will make the muffins dense. 

Use an ice cream scooper to pour the batter into the cupcake liners. Only fill each one 2/3rds the way up. Unfortunately, I was trying too hard to fit all of the batter into six muffins, which caused mine to overflow in the oven. I would recommend having additional cupcake liners and grapefruit slices just in case you make more than six muffins. 

Add a grapefruit slice to each muffin top. Sprinkle the 4 teaspoons of sugar over the top of the muffins. It seems like a lot of sugar, but grapefruit needs a lot of sugar to not be as tart. I did not add all of the 4 teaspoons of sugar and I later wished I had. Bake them for 25 minutes or until springy to the touch. 

These muffins were good when they were fresh, but they weren’t the next day. The texture was a little grainy, which was maybe because I had steel cut oats instead of quick oats. I feel the grapefruit zest created more flavor than the grapefruit slices. The zest adds a little zing to the tongue. The slices of grapefruit seem to be more for show. Enjoy these healthy morning muffins!