Cranberry Orange Streusel Muffins

So remember those lemony blueberry muffins I made? Here’s her more wintry cousin. She’s a bit more of a tart… just look at those juicy, red cranberries peeking out from her buttery robe flecked with bright orange zest… she’s just begging for you to… OK, so a romance writer of food, I am not. But even I have to admit these muffins knocked my socks off.

The story is I found these fun baking cups at our Kroger and somehow knew they needed a cranberry muffin to go in them. I started to search for recipes and then it hit me that I already had a recipe! I just needed to alter my lemon blueberry muffin to fit with orange cranberry.

As with the pumpkin bread I made recently, these are gift worthy. Make some for neighbors, teachers, mailmen and beauticians this holiday, but be sure to make an extra batch for yourself and a much-needed coffee break!

Cranberry Orange Streusel Muffins
For the Streusel
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. + 1 T. all-purpose flour
4 T. cold, unsalted butter, cut into smaller pieces
Zest from one medium-sized orange

To make the streusel, combine the sugar, flour, butter and orange zest in a medium-sized bowl. Using a pastry blender or fork, mash together the ingredients until streusel resembles the texture of wet sand. Save in refrigerator until ready to use.

For the Muffins
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. fresh orange juice
4 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 t. vanilla extract
2 c. fresh cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisking to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil and eggs. Add the milk, orange juice, butter and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. When there are still a few streaks of flour in the batter, add the fresh cranberries and fold into the batter until just combined.

Line muffin pans with 18 muffin cups. Fill each 3/4 full with batter. Remove streusel from refrigerator, and top each muffin with a generous tablespoon of streusel topping. Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes, or until muffins spring back when gently pressed with finger. Be sure to rotate pans about halfway through baking time.

Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then remove from pans and allow to finish cooling on counter for about another 30 minutes.