Cranberry muffins with a moist tender crumb, crunchy sweet almond topping, and a burst of tartness every time you bite into a cranberry. These are simple to prepare and made in one bowl with no mixer required. How easy is that?

A cranberry muffin on a cooling rack with more in background.

Cranberries look innocent enough with that beautiful red-burgundy color, but inside they’re tart enough to make you pucker. So if you eat one, make sure you’re next to So if you eat one, make sure you’re next to someone with whom you don’t mind making that face.

If you add a little sugar to these tart cranberries, they turn out to be quite delicious. You get a sweet and tart thing going on that explodes in your mouth with every bite

Although cranberries fall on the spectrum of healthy foods, I’d be lying if I said these muffins are healthy. In fact, it really pisses me off when a writer has a “healthy” or “good for you” recipe on their website, only to find that there is only one healthy ingredient followed by a list of bad stuff.

Fake news! You just can’t believe anything anymore. Well, here on thegeneticchef.com, I tell it like it is. Even though you may not want to hear it.

Let’s just say these muffins are better for you because you made them. There’s no fake stuff. You have cream, oil, milk, eggs, flavoring, and some dry ingredients to hold it all together. There’s nothing artificial, so in that way they are “good for you”.

This is basically my blueberry muffin recipe but substituted with cranberries. Pretty sneaky huh? I figure why mess with perfection?

Measure all your wet ingredients in a measuring cup and pour it in. You don’t need a mixer, my friends, just a fork or spatula, and some arm strength.

This recipe uses the muffin method. That means the dry ingredients are all whisked together in one bowl and the wet ingredients are mixed in another bowl or measuring cup. Then the wet is added to the dry and combined.

Once the batter is mixed, simply

scoop it in

the muffin tin

add some sugar and almonds on the top

to give a little pop

put it in the oven

with a little bit of lovin’

then bake, cool, eat,

these are tart and sweet

Baked cranberry muffins in a muffin pan.

Try some of my other breakfast treats:

Three cranberry muffins on a board with scattered cranberries.

Life is too short for mediocre food.

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Cranberry Muffins

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Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 25

Total Time: 35

Servings: Muffins

Author: Natalie Gregory

Equipment Used

Ingredients

2 ½ cups flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 ¼ cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon fine salt
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup extra virgin olive oil can substitute with a neutral oil
¼ cup milk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon amaretto or 1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups cranberries fresh or frozen

Topping:

¼ cup sliced almonds*
2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400℉.
Use oil or baking spray to grease a 12-cup muffin pan with ½ cup capacity. Alternatively, use paper liners. If you want them to peel off easily, you can spray the liners.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, and salt until combined.
In a 2 cup measure, add cream, oil, milk, eggs, and extract. Whisk with a fork and combine well.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and use a spatula or fork to combine. The batter will be thick. Mix just until combined. Over mixing will result in tough muffins with tunneling throughout.
Fold in the cranberries with a spatula.
Scoop the batter into a muffin tin to the top. There is exactly enough batter to fill a ½ cup 12-serving muffin tin.
I like to place the muffin tin on a baking sheet for easy removal. Sprinkle tops with some sliced almonds then with the sugar to create a crunchy topping.
Place in oven and bake 25 - 30 minutes. Check after 22 as oven temperatures run differently.
Let cool on a cooling rack for 5 - 10 minutes, then remove from muffin tin and continue to cool on rack.

Notes

*The almonds are optional but give a nice addition to flavor and crunch.

Nutritional Information

I don't post the nutritional value because I don't trust the accuracy of the nutritional apps. I’m not a nutritionist and don't want to post misinformation.

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