Chocolate orange muffins with nuts

The classic flavor combination of orange and chocolate is often used in cooking. Add zest and cocoa to the dough, use a peeled orange and walnuts for the filling - and you get original, moist, moderately sweet and fragrant muffins. Chocolate-orange muffins with nuts - such dessert pastries are always desirable for tea.

Ingredients

• Milk - 230 ml
• Butter (soft) - 100 g + for greasing molds (if necessary)
• Eggs - 2 pcs.
• Brown sugar - 100 g
• Flour - 250 g (2 cups with a capacity of 200 ml)
• Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
• Oranges - 350 g (1 pc.)
• Walnuts - 50 g
• Cocoa powder - 50 g
• Salt - 1 pinch
• Chocolate - for decoration (optional)

Directions

1. Remove the butter from the refrigerator in advance so that it becomes soft (or you can melt it).
2. Wash the orange well with hot water and pat dry.
3. Combine cocoa, flour, brown sugar and baking powder in a deep bowl. Stir with a whisk.
4. In another bowl, combine soft butter, eggs and milk.
5. Pour liquid ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients. With a whisk, mix all the ingredients of the dough into a homogeneous mass.
6. Using a fine grater, remove the zest (bright layer of peel) from the orange.
7. Squeeze the juice from half an orange (about 60 ml will turn out). Save the remaining half of the orange for the muffin filling.
8. Add the orange zest and juice to the mixing bowl.
9. The dough for muffins turned out to be quite liquid, similar in consistency to dough for pancakes.
10. Gently remove the peel and white membranes from the remaining orange (they can add bitterness to the finished muffins). Cut the slices into 2-3 pieces.
11. Turn on the oven to preheat to 170 degrees.
12. Grease muffin tins with butter. If you are using silicone or paper molds, you don't have to grease them. Place 1-2 peeled walnut halves and 2-3 orange slices on the bottom of each mold.
13. Pour the batter over the filling, making sure not to top up a little to the edge of the mold, as the muffins will rise a little. This amount of dough will make 16 cupcakes.
14. Bake orange and walnut muffins at 170 degrees for 30-35 minutes. The muffins will rise slightly and crack appetizingly on top.
15. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick (if the toothpick remains dry after piercing the muffin, it's ready).
16. Transfer the finished muffins to a wooden board or wire rack to cool completely.
17. Chocolate muffins with nuts and zest are ready. Initially, I planned to decorate them with grated chocolate on top, but decided not to close the appetizing cracks.
18. Inside the dough is moist, with an appetizing juicy orange filling and a pleasant nutty flavor. The combination of different textures and flavors makes this pastry very interesting.