Cranberry muffins are a popular treat infused with orange flavoring and often seasoned with cinnamon. They can be made healthier with substitutions like yogurt, oatmeal, and applesauce instead of butter and refined sugar. They can also be stuffed with nuts and chocolate chips and made festive with food coloring and powdered sugar.
Cranberry muffins are muffins usually infused with orange flavoring and studded with fresh or dried cranberries. The orange flavor can come from orange extract, juice, or even liqueur. Popular in the fall months, these baked goods are often seasoned with cinnamon and sometimes poppy seeds. There are many recipes for cranberry muffins, including low-fat versions that can replace oil and butter with yogurt.
Cafes and bakeries often include cranberry muffins among their selections because they’re a popular treat. Those with a sweet tooth who still want some nutrition with their snack can choose cranberry muffins because they contain fruit. Some stores even stuff these muffins with walnuts, pecans, or almonds, adding protein to the nutrients already found in cranberries. If the store uses orange juice, instead of fake extracts, these muffins may also contain vitamin C.
Cinnamon, nutmeg, and powdered sugar are popular additions to cranberry muffins, especially around the winter holidays. Nutmeg and cinnamon often appear in holiday cookies, and powdered sugar is often used to mimic snow. Other holiday additions to these muffins can include chocolate chips and a little food coloring to make them red or pink in color.
Baking recipes for these muffins often start with enriched white flour, butter, oil, and refined white sugar. While delicious, those who watch their figures or try to avoid fat may not be able to enjoy cranberry muffins made with this type of recipe. Healthier substitutions include whole-wheat or oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce, honey, sucralose, or powdered stevia. Home bakers may use just one of these substitutions or all of them, depending on health concerns and tastes.
When you substitute yogurt and applesauce for butter and oil, you have many options. Plain yogurt is perfectly acceptable, but extra flavor can be added by using orange, lemon, or vanilla yogurt instead. Greek yogurt is thicker than regular yogurt and can make for a thicker muffin. Cinnamon applesauce can create a slightly tangy muffin, while cranberry applesauce gives muffins an extra pop of color and flavor.
Many cooks find oatmeal to be a more palatable substitute for wheat flour. Oatmeal has a similar texture and flavor to regular white flour, which means muffins made with it will typically be light and moist. Orange cranberry muffins made with wheat flour can be dense and a little dry if the baker doesn’t add an extra dollop of butter or yogurt. Another solution is to substitute only half the amount of white flour in the recipe for wheat flour. This typically gives the muffins a nutty flavor.
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