Festive cranberry orange muffins characteristic cranberries, recent orange juice, and a contact of orange zest. An orange glaze provides much more orange taste! I really like utilizing recent cranberries once they’re simply obtainable on the grocery retailer. However frozen cranberries can work once they’re not in season.
Greatest Cranberry Orange Muffins Recipe
I’ve stated it earlier than and I’ll say it once more: cranberries are the underdog of the vacation season! However not in our home – and positively not on this web site! This yr we’re baking cranberry orange scones, cranberry hand pies, cranberry crumb bars… and cranberry orange muffins!!! Right here’s why these are one of the best:
- Orange zest, orange juice, and an orange glaze = tons of orange taste.
- You can also make these muffins with recent cranberries or frozen cranberries.
- Tremendous moist, the muffin tops stand up over the muffin pan, creating an enormous muffin high!
- The right festive deal with for breakfast or brunch! They mainly fly out of the muffin tin.
- Freezer pleasant, these cranberry orange muffins will hold saved within the freezer for two months.
Bakery-Type Cranberry Orange Muffins: Components
- All-Function Flour: I don’t counsel utilizing every other number of flour. However some readers have reported good outcomes with a 1 for 1 GF flour substitute. For finest outcomes, weigh your flour as an alternative of utilizing a measuring cup.
- Baking Powder: Be sure to use baking powder, not baking soda, and that it’s recent. Baking soda will trigger the muffins to unfold, which isn’t what we would like. Baking powder will raise the muffins, giving them that coveted muffin high.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness in these muffins whereas enhancing the orange taste and spices.
- Spices: A contact of nutmeg, cardamon, and cinnamon add nice taste to those cranberry orange muffins.
- Butter: Unsalted butter works finest, however in a pinch you should use salted butter.
- Sugar: The recipe makes use of granulated sugar and brown sugar within the muffin batter. You’ll additionally want confectioners’ sugar for the orange glaze.
- Eggs: Use giant eggs which have come to room temperature. I don’t advocate making this recipe with out eggs.
- Vanilla Extract: Use pure vanilla extract, by no means synthetic vanilla, which tastes terrible.
- Bitter Cream: In the event you can’t discover bitter cream, full-fat plain Greek yogurt is a superb substitution.
- Orange Juice: I favor freshly squeezed orange juice as a result of it has nice orange taste. However in a pinch, any orange juice will work.
- Orange Zest: You’ll want a citrus zester to get the finely grated orange zest used on this recipe.
- Cranberries: Extra on this under, however you should use recent cranberries or frozen cranberries. You possibly can even technically use dried cranberries (though I don’t advocate it).
- Glowing Sugar: This can be a completely non-obligatory ingredient, but it surely does make the muffins look gorgeous. When you divide the batter within the muffin pan, you’ll sprinkle the muffin tops with the sugar, then bake.
Find out how to Make Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Put together the Muffin Pan: Preheat your oven. Subsequent, line a muffin tin with paper baking cups. Spray the spray the muffin pan and liners with non-stick baking spray. This ensures your muffins will come out of the muffin pan effortlessly.
- Make the Batter: You’ll want an electrical mixer to whip the butter, sugars, and orange zest till mild and fluffy. Then add the eggs and vanilla extract. Then you definately’ll alternate including in your dry elements. Lastly, gently fold within the cranberries.
- Bake the Muffins: Divide the batter evenly among the many ready muffin tin. Sprinkle with glowing sugar then bake in preheated oven. Bake for 25 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted comes out clear.
- Cool the Muffins: Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack for a minimum of 20 minutes earlier than serving. However I don’t blame you in case you dig proper in and get down on a sizzling muffin.
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Contemporary Cranberries vs Frozen Cranberries
- Contemporary cranberries are scrumptious and work nice in baked items! Farmers harvest recent cranberries within the fall, making them seasonal. So that you gained’t be capable to discover recent cranberries year-round.
- Frozen cranberries are straightforward to search out year-round, however can go away a slight pink shade in baked items. That is the one drawback to utilizing them over recent cranberries.
- In the event you use frozen cranberries, don’t thaw them first. Add them to the batter frozen. It will assist stop “shade streaking”.
Can I Use Dried Cranberries?
Technically talking, sure, you should use dried cranberries. Nevertheless, in case you learn the remark part, you may even see I don’t counsel it. Right here’s why:
- Dried cranberries usually have added sugar, which covers the cranberry style.
- Dried cranberries gained’t provide the giant juicy pockets of cranberries you see in my images.
- Dried cranberries add a chewy texture the muffins, which I don’t discover interesting.
So, You continue to wish to use Dried Cranberries?
- I counsel rehydrating them first. Place them in water or orange juice (for further orange taste). Allow them to soak for an hour then drain them earlier than including them to the batter; it will plump them up.
- Use 3/4 cup to 1 cup of dried cranberries. 2 cups of dried cranberries will overwhelm the muffin batter.
How Lengthy do Orange Cranberry Muffins Final?
In the event you can, eat these cranberry orange muffins on the day they’re bake them! However what when you’ve got leftovers?
- Leftover cranberry orange muffins will hold, wrapped tightly in saran wrap, and saved at room temperature, for as much as 3 days.
- In the event you’d prefer to hold them longer, place them in a freezer bag and freeze for as much as 2 months. Thaw in a single day on the counter earlier than use.
- To reheat, you possibly can place them within the microwave or in a toaster oven. They’re additionally scrumptious with a slather of butter and a drizzle of honey!
Get the Greatest Orange Taste
You possibly can technically use store-bought orange juice… however why would you? You’ll want recent oranges to get the orange zest. So that you would possibly as effectively juice these oranges and have freshly squeezed orange juice. It’ll add one of the best orange taste.
For much more orange taste, you possibly can add a small quantity of orange extract. That is an non-obligatory ingredient, however will add a punch of orange taste you gained’t get with out it.
