Giant Costco Copycat Gluten Free Orange Marmalade Muffins

Orange you glad we have yet ANOTHER giant muffin recipe for you to keep your weekday breakfasts (or weekend brunches) lively and fun? These gluten free orange marmalade muffins are stunners and packed with vitamin C. They’ve got orange juice, orange zest, AND orange marmalade, and a touch of orange extract for an extra kick. I’d heard a few folks ask if we were going to do marmalade or orange muffins so drafting this recipe and trying them out was a no brainer. If you’re an orange fan, or generally down with citrus, these are the giant muffins for you! They also look splendid on a summer brunch table when trying to impress friends, so go ahead and make a batch (or a few batches of the other giant muffins below as well).

Back to the giant muffins! So far we’ve made these giant poppyseed muffins, giant blueberry muffins, giant chocolate chip muffins, giant double chocolate muffins, giant banana nut muffins, giant strawberry rhubarb muffins, giant apple streusel muffins, these giant lemon raspberry muffins, giant cherry chocolate chip muffins, these giant coffee walnut muffins, and these giant pistachio apricot muffins!

Tips for Fabulous Giant Orange Marmalade Muffins:

A few tips for getting these to turn out just like you remember those Costco muffins:

• Use the right-size of pan! Apparently, Costco keeps their giant muffin pans as a trade secret because we can’t find them ANYWHERE on the internet and you can find EVERYTHING on the internet. Bravo, Costco, for a secret well-kept. However, we’ve found a way to crack the code and gone ahead and just used these brilliant 4-inch cake pans because, after careful inspection, we’ve discovered that Costco muffins are exactly 4-inches in diameter! HA! Take that, Costco-bakery-lords. I never thought I’d be regularly using 4-inch cake pans but here we are. I’ll just need to make a bunch of tiny cake recipes next!
• Use orange marmalade with zest-sized pieces of peel (not GIANT chunks of orange peel) – unless you want giant chunks of peel suspended in your muffins! You do you!
• Let your batter REST, per the recipe, for at least 30 minutes. For two reasons: 1) the batter thickens as it rests; and 2) something somewhere said that baking powder needs a bit more time to “activate.” Don’t quote me on this, who knows if it’s actually true.
• Don’t over-mix your batter! Muffins need a lot of lift, especially these giant ones, and if you over-mix your batter, you’ll end up with flat or sunken muffins which is no fun.
• Use a good 1-1 gluten free flour mix! We use the Bob’s Red Mill one (the baking mix), though we’ve heard good things about Cup-4-Cup. We’ve only tested this recipe with this one so if you want them to turn out exactly like ours, we recommend snagging a bag of that specific 1-1 gluten free flour.
• Do NOT open the oven door during baking time. Tape it shut if you have to! You can certainly turn on the oven light and peek and the gloriousness that is a set of rising muffins nearly-ready to be devoured, but do not open that door! Opening the door will immediately lower the oven temp and prohibit your muffins from rising correctly. If you’re in the last few minutes of baking and need to test to see if they’re done, open the oven just a tiny bit and reach in and just tap the top of one – if it springs back it’s done, if it presses in like a foam mattress topper, it’s not and needs a couple more minutes!
• These will keep in an airtight container (or in ziplock baggies) for a week or so – and they freeze REALLY well! So if you want to make a batch and save a bunch, put them in a sturdy plastic container or a freezer plastic bag and pop them in there. Then microwave for about 30-45 seconds (from frozen) before eating! I even like popping mine in the microwave for 10-15 seconds from room temp to get them all warm and floofy again before eating.
• GLAZE: glazes are a super easy way to elevate your muffin game. The glazes we use are essentially just powdered sugar and a liquid – in this case, orange juice and extract. The key with glazes is getting the consistency right – you want to be able to drizzle or pour the glaze, so it needs to be able to move a bit, but you don’t want it to just pour off your muffins completely. You want to get to a thicker consistency (it should be thick when you stir it), that slowly pours when you lift up your stirring spoon. This will ensure that your glaze stays mostly on top of the muffin and that it stays opaque and doesn’t run off in a giant puddle. If your glaze seems to thin and runny, just add more powdered sugar! Vice versa if it seems waaaay too thick and you can’t even get it to pour, add a touch more milk.

Print Recipe

Giant Costco Copycat Gluten Free Orange Marmalade Muffins

These giant fluffy breakfast muffins are packed with marmalade and orange zest and juice!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Resting time30 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free

Keyword: breakfast, costco muffins, easy, giant, gluten free, marmalade, muffins, orange

Servings: 6 giant muffins

Calories: 500kcal

Author: Amelia Farber

Equipment

• Six 4-inch round cake pans (link below to the ones we use)
• Cookie sheet

Ingredients

For the muffins:

• 4 large eggs
• 1 Cup white sugar
• 1/2 Cup melted salted butter
• 1/2 Cup canola oil
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp orange extract
• 1/2 Cup orange juice
• 1/2 Cup orange marmalade
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 2 Cups gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum added (if it doesn't have xanthan gum, add 1 teaspoon xanthan gum) link below to the one we use
• 1/2 Cup sweet rice flour
• 1/2 Cup arrowroot starch
• 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• orange food coloring optional

For the glaze:

• 1 Cup sifted powdered sugar
• 2-4 Tbsp orange juice
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• orange food coloring optional

Instructions

• First, make the muffin batter! It will need to rest at room temp for 30 minutes before baking. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, butter, canola oil, orange juice, sour cream, vanilla and orange extracts, orange zest, and orange marmalade until thicker and smooth. Add in the gluten free 1-1 flour, sweet rice flour, arrowroot starch, baking powder, and salt and whisk until totally combined and smooth. Then let the batter sit either on the counter for at least 30 minutes before baking (you can let it rest in the fridge for longer if you want).
• Once the batter has rested preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit and place your six 4-inch cake pans on a cookie sheet. Spray each pan with cooking spray, then spoon batter into each one evenly (they should be about 3/4-5/6 full). Bake for 5 minutes at 425 then immediately lower the temp to 350° F (do NOT open the oven door!) and let bake for 20-25 more minutes until the tops spring back with touched. Let cool nearly-completely before turning out and glazing.
• While the muffins are cooling, make the glaze! Then, in a medium cereal bowl, stir together all of the glaze ingredients until fully combined and very smooth (this may take some working). Check the consistency of the glaze: you're looking for a glaze that can drizzle over the muffins, but doesn't flow too quickly or it will simply run off and not hold on top of the muffins. Add more powdered sugar if it seems too thin/runny.
• Then use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the muffins, and serve! You can let the glazed muffins sit at room temp for 30-45 minutes for the glaze to harden, then put into zip-top bags and keep in the fridge or freezer for up to a week. Best-served slightly warm, so pop them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds from room temp!

Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your muffins!

Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber