When fall arrives and the nights turn cold, I begin to think about cranberries. Think is probably not the operative word – more like dream and even obsess. I’ve always had a “thing” for cranberry muffins and when they include chocolate my food fantasies go into overdrive.
So when I discovered that my partner for this month’s Secret Recipe Club, Sara of Cupcake Muffin, has a recipe for cranberry chocolate chip muffins you can imagine how pleased I was.
Sara has been blogging since 2007, and she has a huge recipe index filled with recipes I’d like to try. From breakfast muffins (Corn Muffins with Cheddar and Caramelized Onions – because we all know how much I love caramelized onions) to Spicy Quinoa Patties (a stop on my “trying-to-like-quinoa tour”) to salmon with red curry sauce and bok choy (using a quick-and-easy curry sauce that would go well with chicken too) to Meyer Lemon Coconut Cheesecake (yikes, just the name makes me smile in anticipation), Sara has delectable recipes for every taste, meal, and course.
But the nicest part of Sara’s blog is her recent post about how her great-grandmother gave her grandmother a set of menus with which to start off married life. Now Sara’s own mom has passed them down to her. Sara has reprinted the menus and, after re-creating one this summer, holds out the promise that we’ll see more of how she carries on this tradition into the fourth generation.
I made a few changes to the cranberry muffin recipe that she adapted from a version by Christina of Dessert for Two: using half canola oil (because I didn’t have “light” olive oil), increasing the amount of orange zest and cranberries, specifying dark chocolate (as Christina did), and adding a streusel topping. The streusel might seem a bit much, but as far as I’m concerned, if you can add streusel to a muffin or plain cake, most of the time you should. Life is short – top your muffins with streusel, take that extra sip of champagne, and don’t sweat the small stuff.
Simple ingredients mean that you may find most of what you need in your pantry or refrigerator (except the cranberries, which you can find fresh by the middle of the fall, and frozen all-year round).
They come together with minimal mixing – no fancy whisk or even a hand mixer required.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings | |
- 6 tablespoons oil I used 3of olive oil and 3of canola oil
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange zest
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 + 3 tablespoons cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt Kosher or sea
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or substitute homemade - see note below
- 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries can use frozen - do not defrost
- 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips + extra for streusel optional
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup flour
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar either light or dark
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Ingredients
| |
- Preheat the oven to 400 and either line the cups of a muffin tin with baking or oil the tin.
- Whisk the oil and sugar in a mixing bowl, then add the orange zest and eggs to the mixture.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl, then add those dry ingredients to the liquid, mixing only enough to combine them.
- Add the buttermilk and mix again for a few strokes with a fork or spatula.
- Add the cranberries and chocolate chips, mix again for a few strokes and spoon the mixture into the cups of the muffin tin.
- For the streusel, mix the second batch of flour (1/4-1/3 cup), butter, and brown sugar together until crumbly. the more flour the more crumbly the streusel will be. Gently put the streusel on top of each muffin cup. Sprinkle any optional chocolate chips (just a few - minis works best for this)
- Bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes, until they rise and spring back when gently touched.
I used frozen cranberries because the fresh ones are not in stores near me in early October.
You can make homemade buttermilk by mixing 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) white vinegar or fresh lemon juice, then letting the mixture stand for about 10 mintues until it begins to curdle.
to avoid spills on the oven floor if a muffin rises and overflows during baking, catch drips by putting a baking sheet on the rack under the one you're using for the muffins.
This post is also part of #Choctoberfest, a week-long celebration of chocolate. Check out our giveaway and join in the fun by finding all kinds of wonderful chocolate recipes in the links at the end of this post and my upcoming posts the rest of this week. Check out our #Choctoberfest giveaway as well as other great chocolate recipes from the fantastic participating bloggers through the first link-up below.
Happy Choctoberfest!
Erin @ Making Memories says
Yum! I totally agree. If you can add a streusel topping you definitely should!
Laura says
Erin, Finding a fellow streusel-lover is always a happy occasion:) I haven’t yet put it on beef stew, but …
Liz says
These sweet-tart gems are winners!!!
Laura says
Thanks Liz. So easy to make and boy, was it nice to have one for breakfast this morning:)
Laura says
Liz, Many thanks. I do love the combination of flavors and the final result was quite addictive.
Andrea Kruse says
Oh, perfect timing! My husband (a farmer) just picked up our season’s order of cranberries for the fruit stand. I will have to try these with fresh cranberries. They look amazing.
Laura says
Andrea, I’m so jealous if you have a huge batch of fresh cranberries straight from farms. I have to go to the grocery store for them – they taste good, but it’s so much less fun.
DessertForTwo says
They look scrumptious! 🙂
Laura says
Thanks. And thank you Christina for the initial recipe that sparked so much creativity and inspiration on Sara’s blog and mine.
Tasha @thatssoyummy says
what a combo… LOVE IT!
Laura says
Tasha, thanks. It’s a combo that I find myself going back to over and over.
Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm says
Don’t you love when you can combine two events into one post and in this instance two favorite flavors as well.
Laura says
Wendy, Yes I do love twofers – and with two great flavors too:)
sara says
I’m so glad you liked these muffins! That streusel on top is total genius. 🙂
Laura says
Sara, I liked these and so many other of your recipes. As for the streusel, well it can never hurt on a muffin says “the streusel addict” as I should be called.
elizabeth says
these muffins look absoloutely perfect!
Laura says
Elizabeth, Thanks. They were pretty wonderful, but there are none left. Maybe I should make another batch to see if I reached perfection?
Linda @ 2 Cookin' Mamas says
These look perfect for fall! I love the addition of the streusel topping and who wouldn’t want to put dark chocolate in them?! Yum!
Laura says
Linda, I’m with you on all counts:)
Jenny B @ Honey and Birch says
I never thought of combing chocolate and cranberry – can’t wait to try it out!
Laura says
Jenny, Hope you’ll try the combination. It’s awesome.
April says
I love mixing it up, and adding a sweet/tart combo to my desserts once in awhile. It cuts down the sweetness factor a bit, and makes me feel a little less guilty, if I eat it for breakfast the next day. 🙂 The muffins look great!.
Laura says
April, Thanks. Sweet and tart is such an appealing combination to me – cranberries in sweets are perfect. Recently I’ve begun to experiment with rhubarb and I’ve always been a fan of lemon and lime-based desserts.
Leigh says
Just gorgeous – I love your sight adaption and philosophy about streusel…made me laugh!
Laura says
Leigh, Thanks. Yup – all-streusel-all-the-time. And then some more.
Elena says
Oh man, I love a cranberry muffin. There was a coffee shop near our apartment in Baltimore that made THE BEST cranberry muffins with the big sugar tops. I could eat one right now!
Laura says
Elena, Whenever I’m in a bakery or store looking to buy a muffin, I always check out the cranberry ones first. Guess we’re peas in a pod.
Trish says
I totally obsess about all things cranberry too! Trying to hold back until at LEAST mid October, but these muffins have just made it to my “must make” list. Awesome!
Laura says
Trish, Why hold back? Although I shouldn’t question your desire to leave fall foods to mid-October, I’m doing the same with pumpkin.
pizzarossa says
What beautiful looking muffins!
Laura says
Thanks. They were delicious too:)
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
Cranberries may not be the first thing I think of when fall rolls around but these muffins sure have me thinking about them now!
Laura says
Erin,
I’m a huge cranberry fan and was actually disappointed that I couldn’t find fresh cranberries (In the first week of October) when I made this recipe. But the frozen from fresh worked out fine.
danielle says
Ive made something similar but with dried cranberries. I would love to try your version.
Laura says
Danielle. I hope you’ll try this version – it’s so moist, much more so than with dried cranberries in my experience.