Orange chocolate chip muffins.

In 1996, my grandmother, Dorothy, published a cookbook that included recipes from her friends and family. It’s no longer in print, but I cherish my copy—signed, of course—as a sort of scrapbook of Grandma’s best cooking. It’s my go-to reference for her recipes for no-fail pie crust, homemade noodles, hot chicken salad and raspberry pie.

My contribution to the cookbook was a recipe for Awesome Orange Chocolate Muffins. I loved (and still overuse) the word ‘awesome.’ The header notes on the page read:

From Bryn Mooth, my first granddaughter, born in 1967. Her favorite word is ‘awesome.’ Bryn is married and now living in St. Louis. She learned to cook and to love cooking by helping her mother, Jan, in the kitchen. Every year, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Jan, Bryn and I like to get together in the warmth of Jan’s kitchen and start baking cookies.

I’ve been meaning to whip up a batch of these muffins for weeks but haven’t had a good reason to do so until today, which is a friend’s milestone birthday. I thought this might make a good treat. Here’s the recipe.

awesome orange chocolate muffins

2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup orange juice
grated peel of one orange
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients; blend with a fork. In a separate bowl, combine liquid ingredients. Gradually pour orange juice mixture into flour mixture, and stir lightly just until flour is moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill lined muffin cups two-thirds full with batter. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden on top and a toothpick poked into a muffin comes out clean.