When I spotted fresh, juicy cranberries in my local grocers the other day, I couldn't resist trying out my recipe for cranberry and orange muffins.
Muffin recipes come in all shapes and sizes but one thing is universal – they are very easy to make. The key to making these is a relaxed approach. Don't worry about mixing too much as less is more when it comes to making muffins.
Everyone I know has been eating these over the last week as I'd doubled the recipe in order to make the most of the large bag of cranberries I’d bought.
I’ve heard no complaints yet!
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Makes 15
Preparation time 15 minutes; baking time 25 minutes
Ingredients
280g plain flour
130g light brown sugar
Pinch salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
200ml milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
80ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g cranberries
zest of 1 orange
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 ºC/180 ºC fan and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. I got my beautiful muffin cases from Finishing Touch on St Patrick’s Square (£2.50 for 50).
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In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. If you’ve got time, you can sift these ingredients when adding them to the bowl to make your muffins a little bit lighter – but it’s not vital.
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In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs gently and beat in the milk, lemon juice, oil and vanilla extract. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients. Fold together gently until all ingredients are combined. Don’t worry if there are small lumps of flour left in the mixture but do make sure you scrape the flour off the bottom of the bowl.
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Stir the cranberries and orange zest into the mixture and spoon into the muffin tin, filling each case about two-thirds full.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the muffins have risen and are golden on top. Leave the muffins to cool, then dust with a little icing sugar for extra sweetness.
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