Recipe of the Week: Whole Wheat Cranberry Muffins

OK gang, it's probably obvious by now that I'm a muffin freak, and that I like to bake. When I cut waaaay back on sugar in the spring, I pretty much stopped baking entirely, but now that it's fall and the holidays are approaching, the baking has been making a comeback—I'm just using less sugar.

I baked another batch of banana-chocolate muffins last night so I could use up some of the uneaten bananas in our fruit bowl, and this morning I found myself craving... cranberries. Not bananas or chocolate; cranberries. I stopped at the Metropolitan Bakery on the way back from dropping The Beaner at sharecare (he smiled, waved, and said "bye Mommy!" after two minutes this morning, which is about as far from how he acted yesterday as is possible) to see if they had any whole wheat cranberry muffins or scones, but alas, no. (Ironically, they had pumpkin chocolate muffins, of which I already have a few in the freezer from the time I made Shani's recipe.)

I got some falafel at Mama's after an appointment at around 11:30am, but I never got over my cranberry craving. I finally went downstairs at about 1:30 and adapted my To Die For Blueberry Muffins recipe on the fly to create a cranberry muffin that would satisfy the craving.

Whole Wheat Cranberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
1/2 - 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder

*I put about 2/3 cup of whole wheat pastry flour (which is all I had on hand), 2/3 cup regular whole wheat flour, and 2/3 cup unbleached white flour into a bowl and whisked it together. (The original recipe called for sifted white flour.) I then measured out 1 1/2 cups from that bowl.

Preheat oven to 400°. Mix the above ingredients in a medium-large bowl. In a 1-2 c. glass measuring cup or a pint glass with measurements marked on it, layer the following ingredients, in order:

1/4 c. chunky applesauce (I used some from a batch I made on Sunday)
enough vegetable oil to reach the 1/3 c. line
1 egg
enough milk to reach the 1 c. line

Wash 1 cup fresh cranberries and roll gently in a paper towel to dry.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir 2-3 times. Add cranberries and stir 2-3 more times. (There might still be a few bits of flour showing, but most should be mixed in.)

Line 6-8 muffin tins with paper liners and fill, or fill 4 free-standing waxed-paper liners and place on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with coarse or sanding sugar, if desired, and bake at 400° for 16-22 minutes, depending on number of muffins (more muffins = less time).

whole wheat cranberry muffin

Posted by Lori in food at 2:34 PM on November 22, 2006

Comments (2)

Josie [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Number two on my "to do" list during my winter break is to try your muffin recipes. Number one, of course, being clean my pit of a house! I'm a huge fan of chocolate, bananas AND cranberries so you've treated me right, dear!

Have an absolutely wonderful holiday weekend!

Lori [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Thanks! Since you're in the mile-high city, let us all know of any high-altitude adjustments that might be needed when you get around to making the muffins!

Comments

Number two on my "to do" list during my winter break is to try your muffin recipes. Number one, of course, being clean my pit of a house! I'm a huge fan of chocolate, bananas AND cranberries so you've treated me right, dear!

Have an absolutely wonderful holiday weekend!

Posted by: Josie [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 23, 2006 3:34 PM

Thanks! Since you're in the mile-high city, let us all know of any high-altitude adjustments that might be needed when you get around to making the muffins!

Posted by: Lori [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 26, 2006 5:30 PM

Comments are now closed.