The holidays are a time of intense concentration on all things food. I spend a lot more time experimenting in the kitchen with new recipes and eating this time of year than at any other.
I love the tart flavor of cranberries and get so disappointed they’re limited to certain times of year. Cranberries went on sale after Thanksgiving and I decided it was time to stock up because there had to be something I could make using the cranberries.
I definitely have an affinity for cooking the sweeter things in life versus the savory. Since I know my strengths lie in baking, I decided to create a muffin recipe for the cranberries.
After a quick inventory of my kitchen, I decided that muffins would be the way to go and to counteract the tart flavor of the cranberry I’d use some apples and a crumble topping to sweeten things up and balance the flavors out. Thus, the cranberry muffins with crumble topping was born!
Cranberry Muffins with Crumble Topping
Cranberry Muffins with Crumble Topping
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded peeled apples (2 medium apples)
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 2 cups cranberries fresh, chopped
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of orange or tangerine
- 1/2 tsp salt
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
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Lightly grease 9×13 baking dish, muffin pan, or loaf pan and set aside.
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In a mixing bowl, coat apples and cranberries with white sugar and set aside.
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Meanwhile in a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
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In a separate bowl, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.
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Combine the egg mix with the flour mix until moistened.
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Gently combine apple/cranberry mix until combined.
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Pour batter into greased dish.
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In a small bowl, combine crumb topping ingredients. The mixture will be coarse and chunky. Evenly distribute topping over batter.
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Bake for 15-18 minutes in preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
For more fruit-filled dessert ideas, check out this Cherry Blueberry Crisp with Walnut Streusel Topping recipe.
What’s your favorite recipe you’ve created out of leftover ingredients?
Jenn @therebelchick
Monday 19th of December 2011
YUM! I have to try these!
Curt
Monday 19th of December 2011
I love cranberry muffins. And I love it even more when they have a crumble topping!
Penelope
Sunday 18th of December 2011
This looks so tasty! I love cranberries this time of year too, so this would be a real treat to make.
Shop with Me Mama (Kim)
Saturday 17th of December 2011
This sounds so good! Thank you for the yummy recipe so I can try it out!
ohkeeka [The Type A Housewife]
Thursday 15th of December 2011
I am on a cranberry kick lately, so I love this idea. I've never baked with fresh cranberries though! Do they soften in the oven like when you cook with them or do they stay kind of hard?
Kelly
Thursday 15th of December 2011
I don't know how they are if you were to try using whole cranberries in the muffins, but when you chop them up they do soften.