Cranberry Orange Muffins Recipe

This week at my kids’ school they had their yearly Grandparents Day. All the grandmas and grandpas come and see what their grandkids are learning and working on, the kids do special presentations and show them around. One of the highlights is the coffee and pastry table and the 5th grade parents get to provide the pastries.

That meant that I had to make 2 dozen muffins on Sunday.

I didn’t want to make boring blueberry muffins or buy something horrid from the store, so I started poking around in the fridge and found a couple of leftover oranges and a box of dried cranberries. Perfect!

I dug through my recipes and found that the muffin recipe I -thought- I had was actually for scones. Shoot. So I went in search of a new one and found a perfect start on BakeSpace and altered it slightly. I should make another post entirely for BakeSpace, but in a deliciously decadent nutshell, it is a social networking and recipe site for foodies started by the amazingly talented Babette Pepaj.

Cranberry Orange Muffins
(I doubled the original recipe to make 2 dz muffins. Halve the recipe below to make only a dozen!)

2 cups dried cranberries
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsps baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I never use this much salt, honestly)
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temp
4 tsps grated orange zest (reserve some for topping)
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
Raw sugar for sprinkling on top (if desired)

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Put the dried cranberries and orange juice in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer over med. heat. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool and plump. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside. In another 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. Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture in parts, alternating with the milk, until just combined. Fold in the cranberries. Do not over mix. Spoon batter into paper lined muffin tins and sprinkle the tops with raw sugar and a piece or two of orange zest. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool and enjoy!