Cranberry Orange Muffins are simple, moist bakery-style muffins made with fresh cranberries, orange juice and fresh orange zest. These fluffy muffins have a bright citrus flavor and a tender crumb. The tart cranberries add a lot of flavor to this orange muffin recipe. This is a great recipe to make for breakfast during the holiday season or for Christmas morning.
What is better than warm muffins coming out of the oven on a busy morning? These muffins are easy to mix together in just a few minutes and they bake in 20 minutes. With just a few simple ingredients which you may already have in your pantry, you can make these tender muffins.
While fresh cranberries are tart, dried cranberries are sweeter like raisins. They are both delicious! Cranberry Orange Walnut Bread uses fresh cranberries while Cranberry Orange muffins can be made with either fresh or dried cranberries.
Check out some other recipes with cranberries. Cranberry Orange Sauce pairs fresh cranberries and orange. Dried cranberries are used in the Baked Brie with Honey and Dried Cranberries and Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies.
If you like baked goods that have orange flavor check out Orange Muffins, Orange Olive Oil Cake, Orange Ricotta Cake and Orange Olive Oil Donuts, Orange Brioche French Toast, Orange Pomegranate Scones, Blood Orange Yogurt Cake, Cranberry Orange Ricotta Cake, Orange Ricotta Cookies, Orange Chess Pie and Blueberry Orange Yogurt Cake.
SOME THINGS TO KNOW: FAQ’S
INGREDIENT TIPS:
- The best oranges for baking are navel oranges, clementines and tangerines. Oranges will stay fresh in the crisper of the refrigerator for a month or longer.
- Fresh cranberries freeze well. You can freeze them in an airtight freezer-safe container for 6 months or more. Read about How to Store Fresh Cranberries.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
- 12 cup muffin pan
- Paper muffin liners
- Two mixing bowls. Large bowl for the dry ingredients and a separate medium bowl for the wet ingredients.
- Microplane or small box grater to create the orange zest.
- Whisk to combine the batter.
SUBSTITUTIONS:
- If you do not have fresh oranges to juice you can use frozen concentrated orange juice or bottled orange juice instead.
- The vegetable oil can be replaced with canola oil or a light olive oil. You could also use coconut oil.
- The whole milk can be replaced with half and half. Some other milk options that you could use are evaporated milk, almond milk, oat milk and coconut milk.
- Dried cranberries will work well in this recipe and they allow you to bake them year round.
- You can replace some or all of the all purpose flour for whole wheat flour. This will change the texture of the muffin batter as the wheat flour has whole grains. Check out How to Substitute Whole Wheat Flour for All Purpose Flour before you attempt this.
HOW TO STORE CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS:
- Cranberry Orange muffins will be the best served on the day that you bake them.
- You can keep them covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container or ziplock bag for 1 day at room temperature.
- You can refrigerate the muffins for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
- Cranberry Orange Muffins can be frozen for 2-3 months. Place them onto a baking sheet and put them into the freezer. Once they are frozen, place them into an airtight freezer container and return them to the freezer. They do freeze well if you want to make a double batch.
- Defrost the frozen muffins by placing them onto a wire rack. They will defrost in about an hour’s time.
HOW TO REHEAT CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS:
- You can reheat the muffins in a 350 degree pre-heated oven or toaster oven wrapped in foil to prevent them from drying out. It should take between 5-10 minutes to heat them through.
- You can also reheat the muffins in the microwave. Place a muffin on a microwave safe plate and heat it at 30 second intervals until it is heated through.
In a large bowl beat the egg. Add the milk, orange juice, orange zest and vegetable oil. Whisk them together well.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the flour mixture well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine them together using a rubber spatula or whisk.
Stir in the cranberries.
Divide batter between the 10 cupcake liners. It will be about ⅓ cup batter per muffin.
Cranberry Orange Muffins
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Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup orange juice
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh or dried cranberries
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the oven rack at the top of the oven.
Line a muffin tin with 10 paper liners. Press them down into the muffin cups.
In a large bowl beat the egg. Add the milk, orange juice, orange zest and vegetable oil. Whisk them together well.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the flour mixture well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine them together using a rubber spatula or whisk.
Stir in the cranberries.
Divide batter between the 10 cupcake liners. It will be about ⅓ cup batter per muffin.
Bake for 20 minutes. Ovens due vary so start looking in on the muffins at 15 minutes if your oven temperature tends to run hot. You want the top of the muffins to be completely set and golden brown.
You can serve the muffins warm or remove them from the muffin tin to a wire rack to cool.
