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Orange Poppyseed & Cranberry Muffins

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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Servings: 12
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Muffin Base
  • 3/4 c White sugar
  • 4 tbsp Melted butter -salted. Or unsalted + 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 c Neutral oil -I like avocado oil
  • 2 lg Eggs
  • 1/2 c Buttermilk - Or 1/2c regular milk+ 1tbsp ACV or lemon juice
  • 1/3 c Sour cream -Greek yogurt works well here, too
  • 1 tsp Orange extract
  • Zest of one large orange
  • 1 tbsp Poppy seeds -You can omit this, but I think they balance everything really well.
  • 1.5c+2tbsp All-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp Baking powder
  • Turbinado sugar for topping -You can omit this as well, but I highly recommend adding it for a sweet, crunchy topping.
For the Cranberry Sauce
  • 2/3 c Thick cranberry sauce -See notes for link to my homemade cranberry sauce recipe
  • 4 oz Softened cream cheese `
  • 1/2 c Powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Method
 

Muffin Base
  1. Add your melted butter, oil, eggs, and sugar into a large mixing bowl and cream together.
  2. Now, add your buttermilk, sour cream (or yogurt), and orange extract and mix until well combined.
  3. Sift your flour and baking powder (and salt if you used unsalted butter) into the wet mixture and mix, being careful not to overmix.
  4. Zest your (very clean) orange and add to the batter with the poppy seeds- fold these in and do not overmix. Overmixing can create dense muffins! You should notice your batter has a frothiness to it (you can see and hear air bubbles). You want to keep that air for fluffiness!
For the Cranberry Swirl
  1. Add your cranberry sauce, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar to a bowl and blend with an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this in a regular blender or food processor.
    Now would also be a good time to preheat your oven to 400℉.
Assemble and Bake
  1. Lightly butter or line your muffin tin with non-stick muffin liners.
  2. Add about 1.5 tbsp of your muffin batter into each muffin spot, then add 2-3 tsp of the cranberry swirl component, then add another tablespoon or so of batter on top. It's okay if they are filled to the top, you just don't want batter overflowing.
  3. Take a chopstick, toothpick, skewer, or anything similar and swirl the base and the cranberry together. Do not overmix or they won't bake up right.
  4. Top with turbinado sugar. Again, you can omit this, but I highly recommend adding it.
  5. Bake at 400℉ for 5 minutes. This high temperature essentially shocks the batter into rising- but don't use this temperature the whole time! You will get dry and/or burnt muffins.
  6. After 5 minutes, lower the temperature to 350℉ and bake for another 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't wait until the tops are browned to take them out- they will start getting dry by then!
  7. Leave them in the muffin tin for about 15 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack. You want these to cool completely for the best flavor!

Notes

Cranberry Sauce Recipe