The idea of having a virtual potluck with my old blog buddies made me think of this event ‘Christmas and New Year Bakes’. You may be wondering why Christmas…I could have chosen any other theme….but for 15 years of my life…which I studied in Christian Missionary school…Christmas celebration has been a big part of me. I got the opportunity to snack on many wonderful cakes and bakes in that period of time. This event is just a roll back to treasure those beautiful memories…I am glad to say that, our event opener is Prathibha (Prathy as we friends call her) of ‘The Chef and Her Kitchen‘. I can write a long and long post on the bond of friendship we share…but let me stop here and take you to directly to post of gorgeous looking Cranberry Muffins. Thank you Prathy for being part of this event and sharing this wonderful recipe.
When my bestie Lubna messaged and asked me if I could do a guest post for her Christmas bakes series what else I would have told other than YES, it is my pleasure to do a post for a good friend like her. We both can chat for hours together about the food, menus, pictures, food photography and so on. I am thankful to blogging that I could make wonderful friends like her who are friends for life. I actually did not have much time when she asked me as I had travel plans, so could not do an elaborate bake and chose a simple cupcake which I promised to send her on time.As her theme was Christmas bakes I chose something fruity and these cranberry cupcakes are the most easiest cupcakes to prepare.So if you are looking for simple and quick Christmas bakes, this recipe is apt for you. If you are interested to check Christmas Fruit Cake recipe, check it here.
I bake a batch of cupcakes or muffins for my son every week and it has become a ritual now. I try to do mostly whole wheat based cakes for him and of course there are exemptions at times. These muffins I have tried from a book named Mini Cakes by Joanna Farrow. This book was gifted to me by a fellow blogger Deesha in one of her contests. This book is apt for those who look out to prepare a small batch of cakes and cupcakes.This book has lot of brownies, cupcakes, little cakes,muffins and cake pops recipes. These cranberry muffins are really easy and quick to make and can be prepared in less than half an hour. I have tweaked the recipe a bit in order to prepare with the ingredients in my hand and have mentioned the details in the notes section.
Cranberry Muffins
Yields 9 big Cupcakes ,I got 6 big and 6 small cupcakes
Prep time: 10 mins | Baking time: 15 mins | Total time: 25 mins
Cuisine: International | Category: Muffins/Cupcakes – Baking
INGREDIENTS:
- 100 gms. All Purpose flour
- 100 gms. Cranberries, roughly chopped
- 100 ml fresh Yogurt, beaten
- 80 gms. Caster Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 2 tbsp Vegetable/Canola Oil
- 3/4 tsp Vanilla essence
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- a pinch of Salt
PREPARATION:
- Preheat the oven to 190 deg C/375 deg F/Gas Mark 5. Line a muffin pan with the liners, I have used 6 piece big muffin tray and 6 small muffin cups here for this recipe.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl. I did on paper and shifted it to the bowl. You can mix in caster sugar to the flour mixture here or beat with the wet ingredients in the following step.
- In another bowl beat yogurt,oil and egg with a wire whisk until evenly combined.Add vanilla essence and mix it nicely.
- Add the whisked wet ingredients into the dry flour mixture and fold in gently until the ingredients are just mixed.This mixture will be slightly thicker compared to cake batter.
- Add a tsp of flour to the cranberries and mix them in a cup and then add to the muffin batter and mix gently.
- Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until 3/4 th of the liners.Bake them in a preheat oven for 12-15 mins until they are done.Do a toothpick test to check the doneness of the muffins, if you prick the toothpick in the center it should come out clean which indicates that the muffins are done.
- Leave the muffins in the tin for 2 mins and transfer them in their case to a wire rack to cool.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
- You can dust these Cranberry Muffins with icing sugar.
NOTES:
- The original recipe called for self raising flour, I used all purpose flour and increased the quantity of baking powder in the recipe than mentioned. If you are using self raising flour use the same amount as all purpose flour and reduce the baking powder to 1/2 tsp in the recipe and you can avoid baking soda too.
- The original recipe used 55 gms. of sugar which I felt was very less and hence added more in the recipe and that was perfect for our liking.
- These are low fat muffins which I could feel in the taste. Though they were soft and fluffy I felt they could have been more moist. You can increase the oil more by 1-2 tablespoon in the recipe and reduce the yogurt accordingly if you want very moist muffins.
Ruxana says
Looks so yummy