Cranberry-Orange Muffins

I was just cleaning out stuff in the fridge the other day (as I occasionally do) and realized that I had some cranberries in the fridge. I had bought them to make cranberry bread and had a bit leftover. Due to circumstance, I never got around to using them. So, I thought, why not make cranberry muffins? I found a recipe here and altered it a bit to suit my taste. The result? Well, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!


Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Fresh cranberries, cut in half - 1 cup
Walnuts, chopped - 1/2 cup (optional)
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Orange zest - 2 tsp
Butter, melted and cooled slightly - 1/4 cup (4 tbsp)
Milk - 2/3 cup
Vanilla extract or orange extract - 1/2 tsp (I used orange liquor)
Egg - 1 large

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir well.

3. Add cranberries, orange zest, and nuts (if using) to the above mixture.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk/beat egg, milk, vanilla/orange extract, and butter until well mixed.

5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir gently until just combined. The batter will be a bit lumpy at this point. It's fine. Everything will be ok once they're cooked!

6. Either grease muffin tin with butter/cooking spray or line with paper liners like I did and save yourself the work!

7. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. This amount makes 12 muffins, so adjust accordingly.

8. Bake at 400 F for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

9. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Serve warm with butter or jam, if desired, but they really don't need anything additional!

Another look:sweet and tangy = yummy!

I'm sending this over to Bindiya for her "my favorite things event" with the theme of cakes and muffins. Hope she likes them as much as I do! :)