This cranberry muffins recipe allows you to take what you have on hand in your pantry and create These Cranberry-Nut “Everything” Muffins to make a delicious, nutritious and convenient grab and go snack over the busy holiday season, or any time of year!
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always looked forward to baked goods from my Great Aunt Rose at Christmas time.
She’s a woman of humble means and has never been one to buy expensive gifts, but she always gives us a few bucks in a Christmas card (to be spent on something fun) and an old re-purposed cookie tin full of home-baked goodies.
Along with this she usually brings some jars of homemade applesauce made with apples from her tree and a batch of what I call Cranberry-Nut “Everything” Muffins, they’re cranberry orange walnut muffins at the base with so many other tasty add-ins.
What’s In An “Everything” Muffin?
This easy cranberry muffin recipe is jam-packed with everything good: Fresh cranberries, walnuts, raisins, dates, coconut, bananas, orange, apple sauce and the usual foundational muffin ingredients (flour, eggs, a little sugar, etc.)
The end product is the moistest, most delicious healthy cranberry orange muffins I have seriously ever tasted. They make an excellent snack or quick breakfast this busy time of year when we don’t always have time to stop for a freshly-made, sit-down meal. And they’re a nutritious alternative to many of the sugar-laden candies and treats that tempt our sweet tooth over the holidays.
Aunt Rose has been making these muffins so long she doesn’t even remember where the recipe came from, but it’s evolved over the years as she’s added things here and there that she’s had on hand.
This year she reluctantly moved into a care home where she has access to a shared kitchen, but she’s not as excited about baking anymore. So she passed me the torch and I am honoured to have the privilege and responsibility of making and guarding this family recipe from here on out (until one day I pass it onto the next generation).
I’ve kept her recipe as-is but I did reduce the sugar by half. And honestly, these muffins are naturally sweet enough that they could probably do with no sugar at all. But I only use one cup of organic sugar for the entire batch and I get between two and three dozen muffins out of that (which works out to less than a couple teaspoons of added sugar per muffin).
The reason I say I get between two and three dozen is because Aunt Rose says this recipe makes 24 muffins (two dozen), but using my standard sized muffin tins, I ended up getting two dozen muffins AND I still had enough batter left over to make a loaf in one of my bread pans.
I don’t think I would have had quite enough for a full three dozen muffins, but probably about 30 muffins altogether.
That’s one of the reasons I love this recipe: You get a ton of muffins, both to eat fresh and some to stick in the freezer to grab and go over the holiday season.
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Easily Customize Your “Everything” Muffins
The other awesome thing about this recipe is that you can easily add, omit or substitute certain ingredients for what you have on hand. For example, I didn’t have quite enough raisins when I made my last batch, so I substituted with some dried cherries I made in my dehydrator earlier this year.
You could also add things like hemp hearts or chia seeds or substitute them for the coconut. Or substitute pecans for walnuts or omit the nuts altogether if you don’t want cranberry nut muffins.
You can use dried cranberries in place of fresh ones to make a dried cranberry orange muffins, but I highly recommend using fresh or frozen cranberries if possible because they add a delicious tang to these muffins that helps to balance the sweetness of the other ingredients (and they look beautiful too!).
If you don’t have orange juice on hand you can substitute for any other type of fruit juice or milk or even water if that’s all you have.
In short, these Everything Muffins are a highly customizable, delicious, nutritious, filling and convenient homemade snack this time of year, or any time for that matter, and you absolutely must try them!
Want to turn these into a whole wheat cranberry muffins recipe? Use fresh ground soft white wheat or Spelt. If using Spelt, use 4 cups flour.
Here’s the recipe…
Cranberry Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (or 3/4 cup coconut oil for dairy free)
- 1 cup sugar (or 1 cup erythritol & pinch of stevia for sugar free)
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 6 overripe bananas
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup dates
- 1 cup shredded coconut
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or hand mixer (or by hand the old fashioned way!) Add eggs, one at a time. Add orange juice, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
- Mix dry ingredients together including the nuts, coconut and fruit. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until well combined.
- Prepare muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners and fill liners with batter right to the top.
- Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!
* If you have a little batter left over and want to make a loaf of bread instead of more cupcakes, bake the loaf at 350ºF for 40-45 minutes. Remember to grease and flour your bread pan first!
Cranberry Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Mixing Bowls
- Electric Mixer
- Spatula
- Muffin Tins or Loaf Pans
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter or 3/4 cup coconut oil for dairy free
- 1 cup sugar or 1 cup erythritol & pinch of stevia for sugar free
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 6 overripe bananas
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup dates
- 1 cup shredded coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or hand mixer (or by hand the old fashioned way!) Add eggs, one at a time. Add orange juice, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Fold in fresh cranberries by hand.
- In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together including the nuts, coconut and fruit. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together by hand until just combined.
- Prepare muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners and fill liners with batter right to the top.
- Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!
Notes
| Detail | Tip |
| Use Fresh Cranberries | Using fresh or frozen cranberries gives your muffins a tart and juicy burst of flavor. To prevent the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the batter, toss them in flour before adding them to the batter. |
| Measuring | Use proper measuring utensils to accurately measure your ingredients, and spoon and level your flour instead of scooping it from the container. Using too much flour is the top reason muffins come out dense. |
| Mixing | Bring your wet ingredients to room temperature and mix your wet and dry ingredients separately before mixing them together. Don’t use an electric mixer when combining wet and dry ingredients. You could over-develop the gluten, resulting in dense muffins or large holes in the crumb. |
| Filling | Do not overfill your muffin tins. (Refer to the chart below for muffin batter capacities.) Pro-Tip: Use a cookie scoop for ease of filling. |
| Baking | Don’t open the oven door, or the muffins may deflate. To check if they are ready, insert a toothpick into the center of one muffin. If it comes out clean with no wet batter, they have finished baking. |
| Extras | Press a few extra fresh cranberries on top of the muffins for a prettier presentation. Sprinkle the top with sparkling sugar for an added touch. |
| Time Saver | This recipe works with my homemade muffin mix. Just use 4 ½ cups muffin mix in place of the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in this recipe. |
Nutrition
There you have it, mine and Great Aunt Ruth’s delicious cranberry muffins recipe. What are you going to be adding into yours?
Nutritional info?
Hey Melisa, this recipe looks awesome. Have you ever made it with gluten free flour? I really miss muffins now that I eat gluten free?. Thanks
What if I don’t have bananas?
You can use pureed pumpkin or applesauce in it’s place.
Enjoyed these muffins, it was also great to have some frozen for unexpected visitors this time of year. Thank you.
Great Aunt Rose is to be commended or is it Great Aunt Ruth, she has a name change at the bottom of the recipe. LOL