Here’s a great recipe to use up any of those cranberries you may have left over from the holidays. It’s also a reminder that you should purchase extra bags and throw them in your freezer before they disappear from the market shelves.
This wonderful recipe comes from my friend and baker extraordinaire Helen S. Fletcher. Helen has a blog called www.pastrieslikeapro. If you like to bake, you need to join it. Helen’s bio reads like a tome, there is very little Helen hasn’t accomplished in her impessive career.
One of my favorite tips in her cranberry muffin recipe is to add the cranberries frozen, that way they don’t turn the muffins pink.
Helen makes her muffins by hand, but I prefer the food processor.
I was afraid that so many cranberries would be too tart, so I substituted some of them for blueberries. That was a mistake. I should have trusted Helen from the start. The blueberries were completely lost and when I made the muffins again with all cranberries, they were perfection.
Cranberry Muffins
Topping
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (40 grams)
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Cranberry Muffins
12 ounces cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
½ cup unsalted butter, softened (114 grams)
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (280 grams)
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt½ cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla paste or extract
Topping
1. In a small bowl, stir the sugar and nutmeg together.
Cranberry Muffins
2 Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line cupcake wells with paper liners. Set aside.
3. To make the batter: Place the frozen cranberries in the bowl of a processor. Pulse to chop them coarsely. Remove to a bowl.
4. Add the sugar and butter to the processor and process until until light, scraping down as necessary. Add the vanilla paste or extract and eggs, process until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Process to combine. Add the milk and pulse until a dough is beginning to come together. Do not overprocess..
5. Return the cranberries to the bowl and process just until combined. The batter will be very firm and cold at this point.
6. Fill the paper cups almost to the top; I like to use an ice cream scoop. Sprinkle heavily with the nutmeg sugar.
8. To bake: Bake regular size muffins for about 15 to 18 to minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
9. Cool about 5 minutes in the pans, then turn them out on a rack.
Yield: 15 to 16 regular size muffins.
To prepare ahead: Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for longer storage. Thaw at room temperature.
