Can't Stop Making Clementine Muffin Recipes

I know we have one of these already on this blog, but I have another clementine muffin recipe for you.  I had in the back of my mind that it would be awesome if it was possible to make clementine muffins with an UN boiled clementine.

So... I just tried it!  I kind of made it up based again on the Joy of Cooking basic muffin recipe (I decided to make it with olive oil instead of butter, and made it all in the food processor which worked very well and saved time and cleanup).  And they turned out super great!  Lighter, more like a cupcake, though still muffin-y (I used 2/3 cup of sugar, and might try it with only 1/2 cup next time because these are quite sweet, though not too sweet).  This recipe's advantage over our other clementine muffin recipe is that it's much quicker, and somewhat more delicate.  Its disadvantage (if your motivation is to use up a lot of clementines) is that it only uses one clementine.  I plan to test it with more clementines, see how far it can go, and I'll update.  If you try it with more than one, let us know how it turns out!

Whole Clementine Muffins

2 cups flour (all white, half white half whole wheat, or all whole wheat pastry flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 clementine, any stem remnant removed, and cut into quarters, any pits removed, but keep the skin
2/3 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you want a less sweet muffin)
2 eggs
2/3 to 1 cup olive oil
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease it (I love Wilton Cake Release for stuff like this).

In a bowl combine flour (or flours), baking powder and salt.

In the food processor, blend the clementine pieces with the sugar until a fairly smooth paste forms (you might want to scrape down the sides once).  Add the two eggs and blend some more.  Add the olive oil and milk and blend.  Then add the flour mixture and pulse until just combined.

Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups.  Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown at the edges and a toothpick inserted into one comes out clean.  Cool on a rack.  Best on the first day but still very good on days 2 and 3.