Fresh Cranberry Orange Muffins
These simple whole grain muffins are wonderful. They taste delicious and are pretty easy to put together!
Servings: 13 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour You can also use another other whole grain flour your prefer, but I like the whole wheat pastry flour the best.
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup sugar If you are trying to reduce sugar, you can easily go down to ¾ cup without too much difference. You can also reduce it to ½ cup. but this is a more noticable difference.
- 3 tablespoons orange zest
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup butter melted
- ⅓ cup canola oil or another neutral flavored oil
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- ⅓ cup milk
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 ½-1 ½ cup fresh cranberries I like to give mine a rough chop, but you can leave them whole too.
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Orange Sugar Topping
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
Instructions
- Make sure and read the instructions all the way through before beginning Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Prep your muffin tin by spraying with pan spray, or buttering with softened butter. Set muffin pan aside.
- Mix your flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. Mix your granulated sugar and zest in a small bowl and set aside. You will want to make sure it is well blended.
- If you are cutting your cranberries in half, you can leave them whole if you prefer, do that now as well.
- Add butter, oil, and orange sugar to a medium-sized bowl. Mix well. Next add the eggs, Greek yogurt, orange juice, and milk. Again, mix only to combine. The flour mixture is added next. Mix to combine. Now add in the cranberries and walnuts. Leave a few cranberries out to top the muffins before baking.
- Scoop the muffin mixture into the pans. You should have the perfect amount for 12. Top with a few of the remaining cranberries.
- Now, mix together the ¼ cup sugar and zest. Top muffins with this. Place muffin tin in the preheated oven.
- Bake for about 7 minutes, then turn the pan around. Most ovens have hot spots, generally, in the back corners, it is best to rotate halfway through.
- The muffins will take between 14-18 minutes to bake. You can test with a toothpick. The trick is though, you want it to be just slightly underbaked when you remove it from the oven. The reason for this is there is a process called carry-over cooking. This means the baked cook will continue to cook even when it is removed from the heat source. The residual heat in the muffins will keep cooking after it is removed. So, make sure the toothpick has just a little wet muffin batter on it, but only a little. Another way to test it is to gently touch the very top of it. I like to bake it until about ½ inch in the center of the muffin is slightly underbaked.
- Remove from oven.
- Allow cooling for about 3-5 minutes in the pan. Then, carefully remove and place on a cooling rack. They are delicious warm, they are delicious cooled, and they are even delicious the day after! Make sure and wrap well if they won't be eaten the day of!
Notes
Ingredients- Make sure you have a good ratio of ingredients. I know it sounds silly, but it is so true. Some muffin recipes aren't meant to bake up the same way a bakery-style muffin is made. Different flour ratios, fat amount, and baking powder can all affect the final result.
Proper Mixing- Be sure not to over-mix your muffins. For this batter, you'll want to mix until just combined, which means mixing until the ingredients come together to form a uniform batter. Over mixing is an easy accident. It can be problematic because it adds too much air into the batter and can cause the gluten to overdevelop in the flour. These things lead to more dense, tough baked goods.
High Heat-Bake these muffins HOT! Most recipes call for baking at 350 degrees. Not these ones. That hot temp gives the best "oven spring" to your muffins. It gives these cranberry orange muffins a beautiful dome and perfect light texture.