Cranberry Orange Muffins

I love the pineapple orange muffins from Bruno's. Those are probably my favorite. Although, since I've been couponing I haven't gotten any! I also love cranberry orange muffins, and those I can do because the Ocean Spray Craisins were B1G1 this week at Publix! Not to mention that cranberries are just so festive this time of year. I love to make muffins because you can do it any time of the day. If I'm in the mood to get in my kitchen to bake, I tend to gravitate towards the muffin recipes. They're easy, delicious, and perfect to-go. Let's face it...muffins are a great excuse to eat cake for breakfast!



1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teasoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (take it from the orange you juiced)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the cranberries and orange juice in a small saucepan. Bring just to a simmer over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and set aside to cool and plump.

Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

In a mixer (or with an electric hand-held mixer), in a large bowl cream the butter, orange zest, and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the flour to the butter mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk in two parts (1/3 of flour, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour, 1/2 milk, 1/3 flour). Mix until just combined. Drain off any excess liquid from the cranberries and fold into the mixture. Divide the batter into the muffin cups evenly and sprinkle with extra sugar (optional- I didn't do this). Bake about 25 minutes, until golden brown. Cool muffins in the pan on a rack.


Enjoy!


(adapted from Foodnetwork.com)