Orange is one of my favourite flavours to go into cakes, and it works especially well in conjunction with cranberries. That’s lucky for me, then, as I was given a HUGE bag of dried cranberries by my Mum a while ago and I’ve been figuring what to do with them – and the first thing that sprung to mind were these Orange and Cranberry muffins. They’re zest and refreshing and brilliant for any time of the day – for breakfast, with your lunch, or to go with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee.
Orange & Cranberry Muffins
Print RecipeIngredients
- 350g Plain Flour
- 3tsp Baking Powder
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 250ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
- 125ml Olive Oil
- 2 x Large Eggs
- 3tsp Orange Extract
- 4 Small Oranges, zest & juice
- 250g Dried Cranberries
- Demerara Sugar, to finish
Instructions
Before anything else, remove the zest from the oranges using a very fine grater and leave to one side.
Next, squeeze all the juice from the oranges into a large bowl. Then add the cranberries to the juice and leave them to soak for 1 to 2 hours until they plump up a little.
Pre-heat an oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
Into one (large) bowl, sieve the flour and add in the baking powder and caster sugar and combine together completely.
Into another bowl, add the milk, olive oil and both eggs, the orange extract and orange zest and whisk together thoroughly.
Now make a well into the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well, and then mix the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until they're completely combined. Switch to a whisk if you find this easier.
Drain the dried cranberries completely, and then fold them into the muffin batter.
Next, take 12-hole muffin tray and line them each with muffin cases.
Add the batter to the muffin cases until they're all about 3/4's full.
Place into the oven and immediately turn it down to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and bake for 25 minutes.
