Cranberry Orange Muffins

I absolutely adore bakery style muffins. My Vanilla Muffins, Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins, Raspberry Muffins, Lemon Muffins and Cinnamon Muffins are a few I love muffin recipes I always reach for when I want beautiful bakery style muffins to match the seasons.  I know you’ll love these orange muffins with cranberry for the festive holiday season. 

• Layers of flavors and textures: From the moist and fluffy fresh orange muffins, to the pockets of sweet and tart cranberries and crunchy sugar tops, these tender crumb cranberry orange muffins will delight your senses. 
• Easy to make, bake and eat: These homemade orange and cranberry muffins look and taste like you just bought them from the best bakery in town. But they are actually super easy to make with two bowls, a whisk and a muffin pan (or two).

These orange cranberry muffins require only a handful of simple ingredients to make. Here’s what you’ll need.

• Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
• Wet Ingredients: Gather granulated sugar, orange zest, neutral baking oil, eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice, vanilla and cranberries. 

These moist and fluffy cranberry muffins are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these homemade muffins if you need them.

• All purpose flour: Make these orange muffins with cranberries gluten free by using a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Measure based on weight (240 g) rather than cup for cup. 
• Oil: Any neutral tasting oil will work well. You can also use ½ cup (113 g) melted and slightly cooled butter if you like!
• Granulated Sugar: This moist orange muffin recipe calls for granulated sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make these muffins refined sugar free. 
• Orange Zest: Replace the orange with any citrus you like. Lime, lemons, or meyer lemons, all work well in this cranberry muffin recipe. 
• Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs. 
• Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice: I use the same oranges for the juice as I do for the zest. Just make sure to zest the oranges before trying to juice them.
• Milk: Use any milk you like.
• Vanilla Extract: This adds a lovely background flavor that pairs really well with cranberries and orange. 
• Cranberries: You can fresh or frozen cranberries. If using frozen cranberries, do not let them thaw before using them in the muffin recipe. Also note that the baking time will be a bit longer if using frozen cranberries.

Variations

• Cranberry Orange Muffins with Streusel: Make an easy streusel topping by combining ¼ cup (30 g) flour with 2 tablespoon (25 g) sugar and 2 tablespoon (28 g) cold butter until it forms a sand like consistency. Prepare the cranberry and orange muffins according to the recipe directions, top the muffins with the streusel and bake.
• Orange Glaze: Top the moist cranberry and orange muffins with a tart orange glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 2-3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) orange juice until smooth. Drizzle over the muffins and enjoy.
• Mini Orange Cranberry Muffins: Follow the directions and ingredients to my Mini Blueberry Muffins recipe. Replace the blueberries with cranberries and the lemon with orange.

Learn how to make the cranberry orange muffins in a few easy steps.

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
2. In another bowl whisk the sugar and orange zest together until well combined with a wet sand consistency. Whisk in the oil, eggs, orange juice, milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not overmix.

3. Let the cranberry and orange muffin batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge for longer storage. This step is recommended for bakery style muffins. While the muffins rest, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Line (2) 12 ct. muffin pans with cupcake liners. For bakery style muffins, alternate filled and unfilled muffin wells. At the end of the rest period and right before scooping the muffin batter into the muffin pan, fold in the fresh or frozen cranberries.
4. Use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. Top the muffins with granulated sugar if you like. Bake the muffins at 375 F (190 C) for 18 - 22 minutes for fresh cranberries and 20 - 24 for frozen cranberries. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes about with a few moist crumbs or when a finger pressed gently into the center of the muffins quickly bounces back. Cool the moist cranberry orange muffins in the muffin pan for 5 - 10 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and enjoy!

M’s Expert Tips

• Bring cold ingredients to room temperature.This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in soft, fluffy and moist muffins.
• Zest the orange directly into the sugar. This is the best way to maximize that fresh orange flavor. Zesting the orange directly into the sugar captures not only the zest, but also the orange oil. 
• Don’t overmix the muffin batter. Mix in the dry ingredients into the wet by hand until just combined. 
• Coat the cranberries in flour. Coating the cranberries in flour keeps the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the orange muffin batter. 
• Rest the batter for 30 - 60 minutes. This is a little trick to get those beautiful bakery style domes on muffins. Allowing some time for resting allows the batter to hydrate, thicken and rise, making these the best cranberry orange muffins. 
• Alternate muffin wells in the muffin pan. This allows each muffin to get the maximum of amount of even heat circulating around it. The tops will still pop up, but they won’t be as high if you decide to fill all the muffin liners at once.

Other Cranberry Recipes To Try

• Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
• Cranberry Cheesecake
• Cranberry Bread 

If you try this Cranberry Orange Muffins recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! -M