Straight up, the first bite of a Kiss of Orange Muffins is sort of surprising. They’re not sweet. The muffin marketplace is saturated with sugary sweeties made from cake-mix, so it’s natural to expect anything labeled as a muffin to conform. They look like totally normal muffins, but nope.
What they are, however, are tender-crumbed flavorful little treats from Secret Garden Bakery. The muffins deliver a pleasing, feint little orange accent, in a groovy package that’s built on butternut squash and sweet potato. After the shock fades and the palate adjusts, it’s easy to notice the mild sweetness inherent in those veggies. There’s a little fall-spice accent of cinnamon and ginger in there too, to round things out.
While the muffin package label doesn’t tout any particular mission to deprive people of sugar or dump lots of nutrients on them, the website tells the rest of the story: “Hidden Nutrition in Every Bite”. There’s the magic: HIDDEN NUTRITION. It’s nutrition so hidden, they don’t even warn about it with label stickers that advertise health benefits. This inspires feelings of love and betrayal, all at once.
Of course, more paranoid readers might inspect the ingredient list before indulging. There’s no sugar there (or if it is there, it’s not evident in three read-throughs). There is, however, in addition to the vegetables, organic stuff such as whole-wheat flour and oat bran.
Secret Garden Bakery bakes muffins up in lots of flavors, some of which are gluten-free: they make banana muffins and pumpkin muffins. There’s a chocolate version too, it features spinach, peas and blueberries. Yes, peas. And “Love Muffins” are something majestically, intensely red made with beets. It’s all diabolical.
You can find Secret Garden’s wares at the local Farmer’s Markets, Whole Foods, Bexley Natural Market and Weiland’s. They are solid baked goods by themselves, but dipped in melted honey butter? Sublime.
For more information, visit www.secretgardenbakery.com.