Tide You Over Tuesday: Orange Cranberry Muffins

It’s that time to pack up the kids and send them back to school after the holiday vacation.  Or, if you are like my family, it is time to get back into that home-school routine!  My kids dread a routine, but they thrive on it.  If they didn’t have their daily routine our lives would be complete chaos.  Oh …wait…more chaotic than they are now.  There, that’s better.

It is easy to get into a breakfast rut.  Get stuck giving the kids a bowl of cereal, granola bar, or pop tart in the morning.  Why not surprise them and have a batch of muffins waiting for them when they get up?  I love to bake them at night when the kids go to bed, and then they are ready to go in the morning!

These puppies are delicious! They make the house smell so inviting! They are great for the family, or a morning get together with friends over coffee!  The Cranberry and Orange complement each other and they are both such great Winter flavors!

Let me know what you think!

Orange Cranberry Muffins

Printable Version Here

• 1 Cup dried Cranberries (Craisins)
• 1 medium orange (you’ll need juice and zest)
• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 tsps. Baking Powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ cup butter or margarine softened
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• ½ cup milk (soy milk can be substituted)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Zest Orange; be careful not to get the pith (white part). Set zest aside.  Juice Orange.

In small saucepan add dried cranberries and juice of the orange (1/4 cup).  Cook over medium heat just until simmering.  Remove pan from heat and set aside to cool and plump.

While Cranberries cool; Line muffin tin with papers, or grease and flour.

Sift Flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Now, In your mixer cream butter, sugar, and orange zest until light and fluffy.  You will probably need to scrape the bowl.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Next, you need to alternate folding the flour mixture and the milk into the butter mixture.  You DO NOT want to add it all at once.   Separate it into at least 2 additions each.  You will want to do this by hand, and try not to over mix.

Once all of the flour and milk has been added, fold in the cranberries and OJ.

Divide the batter evenly into the Muffin tin.  You can sprinkle the tops with sugar.

Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Cool muffins in the pan on a rack.  Serve Warm.

These bad boys are good!  I made them Dairy Free by using Butter flavored Crisco, and soy milk.  I may try to adjust the recipe next time to make the gluten free as well.  If I get a Gluten Free Version I will post it on my Recipe tab!

Remember, if you bake this at night.  Store them in an airtight container until morning.  You don’t want them to dry out!

Tagged as: Dairy Free, recipes, Tide You Over Tuesday