Cranberry Orange Muffins

I bought a 3-pound bag of cranberries.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t pose such a problem. I can go through more than 3 pounds of most types of fruit in a week. Hell, I can devour a whole watermelon in a day if left to my own devices.

Actually, I did exactly this a few times over the summer. Breakfast, lunch and dinner—all watermelon, all the time. It’s an addiction, but 80% of my summer diet is fruit. I seriously eat little more than stone fruit and melon.

In fact, you could say that I supplement my fruit with a little bit of yogurt and poultry—it’s definitely not the other way around.

Perhaps this explains why I’ve been absent for so long. Perhaps it’s just because I’m lazy and work makes me not want to write. Perhaps it’s because I was too busy reading good books and watching trash TV.

Whatever the reason, I’m back. And I’ve got something good. You should thank the cranberries.

I love them dried. I love them in baked goods. I do not love them in a sauce. And I absolutely hate them raw. They’re oddly bitter and have a strange texture. They needed to be baked.

Enter two lone oranges at the bottom of the fruit drawer. Enter store brand Greek yogurt I didn’t particularly care for. Enter one measly stick of butter. Enter an empty carton of eggs.

Enter cranberry orange muffins with streusel and orange glaze.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Muffins

1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. orange zest
4 Tbsp. unsalted better, room temperature
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sour cream or low fat Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup flour
4 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. melted butter 

Orange Glaze

2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/3 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Cream together sugar, butter and orange zest. Add in orange juice, vanilla and sour cream.

The sugar-butter-zest combo was so delicious.

2. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking power, baking soda, salt) in a bowl. Slowly add until just incorporated.

3. By hand, stir in cranberries.

4. Distribute evenly into 14-16 muffin cups. Then sprinkle with streusel topping. Use the back of a spoon to press topping into batter.

5. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until the muffins pass the toothpick test.

6. After muffins have cooled for about 10 minutes, drizzle with orange glaze.

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