Where do I start with this recipe?  Well, a couple months ago, I visited some friends in Charleston, and to say they have a huge food scene there is an understatement.  Whenever I go there, I try so many new restaurants, visit some favorites, and take advantage of all the food inspiration.  One of the places they have there that my friend loves so much is a donut shop called “glazed.”  One morning after church, she went by Glazed and picked up pretty much a donut of every flavor they had that day.  This is a huge deal because they only make so many and when they are sold out, they close for the day!  Orange pistachio was one of the donut flavors du jour, and for some reason, I couldn’t get enough of this flavor profile!  I don’t think grain-free donuts are very appetizing, so I really wanted to use a different kind of recipe that would capture the essence of how orange and pistachio go together pretty perfectly.  I love a basic cupcake to play with flavors and it was a perfect vehicle to share this blissful Glazed flavor profile.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Put silicone cupcake liners into your muffin pan.  Use a mixer to mix together all the ingredients except the melted butter and pistachios.  As you are mixing, pour in the melted butter until incorporated. Then fold in the pistachios. Place the batter into 12 muffin tins.  Bake for 22 minutes and cool completely before icing.  For my frosting, I used a basic frosting and added more orange zest. Then I topped the cupcake with more chopped pistachios.