I think by now you are all aware of my obsession with muffins. Honestly, I think I could live on muffins alone! That reminds me of something. I remember working as a nurse on some of the hospital units and physicians would occasionally admit patients, usually women, under the diagnosis of “Tea and Toast Syndrome”.
What usually happened was, these wee women were living on their own. They didn’t have the will or inclination to go to the bother of preparing a nutritious meal, just for themselves. And, they eventually became malnourished.
When I am an old lady, instead of eating tea and toast morning, noon and night. I will most likely become a victim of the Tea (or more likely…coffee) and Muffin Syndrome.
If I am going to live on muffins alone, I need a very large repertoire of tasty muffins and this one is definitely a keeper.
What I have done, is slightly modify one of my favourite recipes, Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins. I have replaced the blueberries with cranberries, added some orange juice, orange zest and a drizzled of icing. The result is spectacular. This recipe for Orange Cranberry Muffins easily makes my top ten list!
Cranberries are only available fresh for a short amount of time. When they are in season, I usually grab a few bags and place in the freezer for future use.
Zest the orange right into the flour mixture, that way you are sure to get every little speck. Try not to zest too aggressively, you don’t want to zest into the white pith, as that part of the orange is very bitter.
Gently fold the chopped cranberries into the muffin batter.
I find an ice-cream scoop perfect for portioning out the batter. This recipe made exactly twelve portions.
Bake until golden and glorious!l
Place a piece of waxed paper under the muffins before drizzling on the icing. Less mess to clean up!
The finished muffins, you are going to want to try these. The combination of cranberry and orange in this delicate muffin is irresistible!
- MUFFINS:
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup sour cream
- Zest from one orange
- 1½ cups Fresh or frozen whole cranberries, chopped
- ICING DRIZZLE:
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- Juice from the orange plus enough water or milk to obtain a drizzleable (I think I just made that word up...lol) icing
- MUFFINS:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and spray 12 large muffin cups or line with cupcake papers.
- In large bowl whisk eggs and gradually add sugar, continue whisking until pale yellow in colour.
- Continue whisking while slowly pouring in oil and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl stir together flour, salt, baking soda and orange zest.
- Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture, alternating with the sour cream.
- Gently fold in chopped cranberries
- Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
- Bake in preheated oven for ~ 20 minutes.
- ICING DRIZZLE:
- Combine confectioners sugar and orange juice. Stir to combine, adding enough additional water or milk to make a drizzleable icing.
- Using a spoon, drizzle over cooled muffins
Do you and your family like muffins?
What are your favourite types to make or to eat?
Patricia says
I have to agree, without having tried these, they MUST be a winner. I have had a cranberry craze lately and put them in everything, especially salads. Now I can’t resist these delicious looking muffins. As I am ( a couple of years!) older than you I will reach the “tea and muffin” stage first so in case my mind is not intact please remember that I love cranberry and orange muffins!!
Monica Parlee says
I LOVE cranberries! I am kicking myself for not having picked up a few more bags when they were in season. This was my last bag :( PS…I will keep us all supplied with muffins, you make the tea!
Catherine White says
These look so delicious!! I like muffins, but only one or two every now and then. Do they freeze well?
But I know from experience, that your home baked muffins are so tasty.
Monica Parlee says
They do freeze well Kathy. Having said that, they are best eaten on the day they are made. Also, the icing may get a tiny bit sticky, but it won’t ruin the taste.
Julie Dyer says
Oh I wish I had some of these in the house right now! :) We love blueberry muffins, raisin bran muffins, carrot muffins — all the muffins! I think I’m going to have to bake some today.
Monica Parlee says
It’s nice to finally meet another lover of all things muffin Julie! Honestly, if I didn’t eat so many of them, I would bake muffins everyday. YUM…carrot muffins…have never made those but I bet they’re delicious!