Cranberry-Orange Muffins

Blogmas Day 6

Happy Sunday! 

Today is going to shape up to be a great day. Firstly, we will be decorating our tree today. We had planned on decorating it Friday, but that just didn't happen. But at this point in the weekend we are now relaxed and rejuvenated so that's happening today. Also, I normally make a special breakfast on Sundays. And today was these festive cranberry-orange muffins…

This is the third time I've made these since Thanksgiving {yes they are that good} so I think I've got my recipe all figured out and ready to share. The original recipe is great but there were a couple things about it that I wanted to change. Most of the ingredients involved are pantry staples, but there were a few that were not. The original recipe calls for orange juice and orange zest, which are things we may or may not have in our kitchen at any given time. And it's kind of ridiculous to go buy a gallon of orange juice just to make a batch of muffins. On the other end I didn't want to be juicing oranges either. 

When Husband would come to me with those beautiful blue eyes and ask me to make him muffins {again}, I hated having to say no simply because we didn't have the ingredients on hand. For me, one of the best parts about baking is the fact that you can easily make variations of cakes and cookies and cupcakes simply from the flour and sugar already sitting in your pantry. So I wanted a recipe that I could easily make at any given time with pantry staples. I decided to replace the orange juice and orange zest with orange extract because extract is something that can sit in the fridge for months, making it easier to have this on hand. As an added bonus, the orange flavor pops much more with using the orange extract. 

Yields 12 muffins//Prep Time~15 minutes //Bake Time~20-25 minutes

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup softened butter 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar 
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2 eggs at room temp 
1/2 cup greek plain yogurt 
2 tsp vanilla extract 
1 tsp orange extract
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1 and 3/4 cups flour 
1 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
3 tbsp milk 
1 and 1/2 cup frozen cranberries 

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a muffin tray with non-stick spray. 
We use a healthier coconut oil spray.  
2. Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to cream butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together. 
3. Once the texture is consistent, gradually add in eggs, yogurt, vanilla extract, and orange extract. 
4. In a separate large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon together. Add the wet ingredients to these dry ingredients. Whisk ingredients to a creamy texture. Use a baking spatula to mix in milk and cranberries. 

 5. Spoon batter into the muffin tray, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake muffins at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Then lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool before serving 

We love these muffins and how festive they are, especially the fact that they use seasonal fruit. We have a few pounds of frozen cranberries in our freezer right now, so this is a great way to use them.