Cranberry Muffins

Do you know there are not many baking recipes out there that use fresh cranberries? Everything is "Craisins". Well I don't have craisins, I have fresh cranberries. And I wanted to use them in baking.

Now I can't tell you how these tasted, b/c I didn't get a chance to have one, but they sure did look purty ;) These were probably the best looking muffins I have made, so I will probably stick with this recipe and just adapt according to the fruit/nuts/citrus I have on hand.

Fresh Cranberry Orange Muffins
Cooking Light
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, melted
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Note: These muffins freeze well. Bake them ahead, cool completely, and store in freezer bags. To serve, thaw at room temperature. Reheat in aluminum foil at 300º for 10 to 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

*I recently found a recipe for fresh cranberry scones that I will be making tomorrow in a attempt to use up the rest of my cranberries. Or I may remake these muffins but do them in a mini-muffin pan.