Cranberry Orange Muffins

We had leftover fresh cranberries in the fridge. We needed muffins for work snacks. I put two and two together and voila - citrus muffins.

First step was whisking the wet ingredients together - 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg, the zest of one orange, and 2/3 cup orange juice. I juiced the orange I zested, and topped it up with a little with water to make the full amount. I also added a squeeze of lemon juice to keep the acidity. It would be pretty easy to make them vegan, since there's no milk or yogurt. I'm sure an egg replacer (flax seed, apple sauce, etc) would work just fine.

Next I whisked the dry ingredients - 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and a pinch of salt. The real trick to muffins is not to over-stir, so I stirred the batter until it was about 2/3 combined, then added the cranberries. By the time the cranberries were mixed in, the batter was just ready.

A note on cranberries - the frozen ones are very handy to use, but they can streak the batter with their red juice. I used fresh cranberries, since I had them, but they took some work - I cut them all in half, and had to go through them to throw away any mushy ones. Fresh cranberries are not attractive - they are hard, white, and taste horrible.

But magic - when they're cooked in muffins, they become the soft, red, juicy, tart berries we all know and love. I sprinkled sugar on top of them before baking, and it created a sugar crust, which was delicious. But because the recipe was so low in sugar, the bitterness of the orange zest was a little strong. Maybe don't zest an entire orange - I'm sure half would be fine. And while they stayed moist, they were a little crumbly. How could a moist muffin be crumbly? Well, I'm not sure. Second Cup muffins were always moist, but crumbled easily as well. A mystery for another day.