TWD Rewind: Orange Berry Muffins (sort of)

It's sort of going to be muffin madness for the next 48 hours here. Tomorrow's TWD is Savory Corn & Pepper Muffins but to get things started right, I'm offering up my rewind of Orange Berry Muffins. These muffins were made by the TWD bakers almost a year ago -- that's right, 01/29/08. They're the first recipe in the book and, for some reason, the first and last recipes in a book just intrigue me a little bit more than the rest. I've never written a cookbook, and I seriously doubt that I ever will, but if I were writing a cookbook I think that the first recipe would set the tone for the book. Now, I don't know if that was Dorie's intention, but if she did want to set the tone, then she did a fantastic job! These muffins are homey and delicious and they're a great starter because they are super easy to mix up. I love my Kitchen Aid but it's been nice to give it a rest recently.
I did, ahem, make a few changes but nothing mind-boggling. I used tangerines instead of oranges because a big box of them was just dropped on my doorstep. They're small so I used 2 tangerines in place of the one orange that the recipe calls for. I also used raspberries instead of blueberries because 1) I don't love blueberries, I like them, but I love raspberries and 2) they were on sale, so much cheaper, than the blueberries at the grocery store. The third change I made was to use half butter and half plain yogurt rather than the full stick of butter that the recipe calls for.

Disclaimer: I LOVE butter and I have been known to use it with abandon in the kitchen quite frequently. However, it's just me eating all of the goodies around here (well, I do try to give it away but I always have to sample my wares) so I'm playing around a little bit. I am all for anything that's a little easier on my hips, ya know?
Anyhoozles, I pondered subbing apple sauce for half of the butter but I decided to go with the plain yogurt because I was worried that the applesauce might make them too sweet. As far as I can tell, the yogurt didn't harm anything -- the muffins were light and fluffy and scrumptious! I didn't sprinkle the tops with sugar because I forgot (doh!) but next time I will!