My AM Kickstart

Since becoming pregnant, I've been eating much more fruit, including dried fruit. I usually have dried cranberries on hand, as well as oranges, and I absolutely loved the flavor of the lemon accent in my Lemon-Blueberry Muffins. So after a brief search, I settled on these muffins - the cranberry & orange flavors were great together, and they were pretty light too - a lot of the sweetness comes from the cranberries - making them perfect for breakfast. I've also really limited my caffeine, so these muffins add a great burst to my mornings when coffee isn't an option :)



Cranberry- Orange Muffins
Bakespace


INGREDIENTS

1 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temp
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for topping muffins, if desired I left this out
2 large eggs, at room temp
1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

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

Line 12-muffin tin with paper liners or lightly brush with butter. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or with a hand-held mixer in a large bowl, cream butter, orange zest, and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Fold the flour in 3 parts into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk in 2 parts, until just combined. Fold in the cranberries. Do not over mix. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tins and sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool muffins in the pan on a rack.