These soft and moist cranberry orange muffins with orange sugar icing are a delicious and easy sweet treat to make for your family and friends.
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Ingredients and substitutes
Flour - You will need all-purpose flour to make these orange and cranberry muffins.
Baking powder - You won't need baking soda for this recipe.
Salt and vanilla extract - Vanilla goes well with the orange flavor, so I wanted to add some. However, you don't have to do it if you don't like the flavor. It is an optional ingredient. As for the salt, it's not optional and you should add it to all your baking recipes.
Fats - As always, I go for two types of fats in my desserts - unsalted butter and vegetable oil such as canola or sunflower seed oil.
Sugar - Use white granulated sugar or castor sugar. You can also replace ⅓ of white sugar with light brown sugar, if you want. Brown sugar adds caramel flavor and provides extra moisture to baking goods. However, this cranberry orange muffin recipe doesn't need adjustments to make the muffins moister, so: if you add brown sugar, do it for flavor.
Milk - Make sure that your whole milk is at room temperature.
Eggs - I use two large eggs at room temperature. If you forgot to take them out of the fridge in advance, submerge your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 3-5 minutes. Then, wipe and use.
Orange - You will need one medium orange to get enough zest and juice for both the muffins and the glaze.
Cranberries - Don't forget to toss your fresh cranberries in a small amount of flour. This will prevent your berries from sinking to the bottom during baking. If you use frozen cranberries (like I do), don't thaw them before using them.
For the glaze - I make an orange glaze with two simple ingredients - freshly-squeezed orange juice and powdered sugar.
Cooking tips
All ingredients should be at room temperature. If you see a large amount of butter in any recipe, it means that the rest of the ingredients should be at room temperature. If you beat butter and sugar together and then add cold eggs, the butter will solidify and look grainy. These grains won't combine with the dry ingredients properly and will affect the final texture. The same applies to the milk, which should also be at room temperature.
Don't overmix the batter. The more you mix the muffin batter in the last stages, the more gluten you activate. If you don’t want a denser interior and rubbery texture, you want to mix just until the last flour speckles have disappeared in the batter.
Bake to dry toothpick. You don’t need to wait until the tops become golden, as you might overbake your muffins. It’s better to check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin that baked in the center of your pan. Once it comes out dry, your muffins are ready.
Step by step directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (355F) and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
2. Into a mixing bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy.
4. Then, add the oil, orange zest, and vanilla extract. Beat until homogenous in consistency. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl and beat again.
5. Add one egg at a time and beat until well combined.
6. Mix the milk and orange juice in a small bowl.
7. Add the dry ingredients in three parts to the eggs and butter mixture – alternating with the milk mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients – while beating on low until a homogenous and silky consistency is reached.
8. Toss the cranberries with some flour and then fold them into the muffin’s batter using a rubber spatula.
9. Spread the batter between the muffin liners so they’re ⅔ full. Bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and let cool down for 5-10 minutes in the pan. Then, place it onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.
11. When the muffins are at room temperature, whisk the glaze ingredients in a bowl and drizzle on top of the muffins.
Possible variations
Chocolate - Instead of the orange glaze, you can melt some white chocolate and use it as a topping.
Dried cranberries - The berries in the recipe don't have to be fresh or frozen at all. You can replace them with dried ones, but the difference in flavor will be noticeable because the dried berries are sweet and not sour.
Lemon - If you're not a big fan of oranges, use lemon juice and zest instead.
FAQ
You can store these muffins in an air-tight container lined with a paper towel at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Yes, they are freezer-friendly and can be frozen for up to 2 months.
You can replace cranberries with fresh or frozen blueberries or raspberries.
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Recipe card
Cranberry orange muffins
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Rubber spatula
- Stand mixer or hand mixer and a large mixing bowl
- Muffin pan
- 12 Muffin liners
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 200 g flour
- 7 g baking powder
- ½ salt
- 160 g white granulated sugar
- 90 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 30 g vegetable oil such as canola oil
- Zest of one medium orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 100 ml whole milk at room temperature
- 30 ml orange juice juice of fresh orange
- 150 g fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 teaspoon flour
For the glaze
- 70 g powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange juice juice of fresh orange
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (355F) and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners.
- Into a mixing bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (you can use a bowl and a hand mixer instead), add the butter and sugar. Beat for 2 minutes or until fluffy.
- Then, add the oil, orange zest, and vanilla extract. Beat until homogenous in consistency. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl and beat again.
- Add one egg at a time and beat until well combined.
- Mix the milk and orange juice in a small bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients in three parts to the eggs and butter mixture – alternating with the milk mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients – while beating on low until a homogenous and silky consistency is reached. The pattern should look like this: dry/milk/dry/milk/dry. Scrape the bottom and the sides of the bowl and mix on low again.
- Toss the cranberries with some flour and then fold them into the muffin's batter using a rubber spatula.
- Spread the batter between the muffin liners so they’re ⅔ full. Bake for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool down for 5-10 minutes in the pan. Then, place it onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.
- When the muffins are at room temperature, whisk the glaze ingredients in a bowl and drizzle on top of the muffins.
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