Cranberry Muffins are perfect bakery style muffins studded with tangy cranberries and a bright citrus flavor! Moist muffins with the tartness of cranberries and a simple & sweet vanilla glaze on top.
Want another delicious fresh cranberry recipe? Be sure and try this Cranberry Orange Scones recipe.
Easy Cranberry Muffins (Bakery-Style Muffins)
This cranberry muffin recipe is full of orange flavor and cranberry flavor, thanks to fresh orange zest, orange juice, and juicy tart cranberries. Perfect for a winter breakfast treat or as a snack to use up those beautiful seasonal cranberries.
The best part is the simple vanilla glaze over top – the sweet glaze is a delicious contrast to the tartness of the cranberries and bright citrus flavors of the orange.
Ingredients Needed
Cranberry Muffin Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour : I use unbleached all-purpose flour.
- Granulated Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Kosher Salt
- Ground Cinnamon
- Large Eggs
- Whole Milk
- Vegetable Oil : Canola oil is another good substitute if needed.
- Orange Juice : This can be fresh orange juice or use store-bought bottled orange juice. I keep it simple and use store-bought.
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- Fresh Orange Zest
- Frozen Cranberries : Take fresh cranberries and freeze them for this recipe. I usually can’t find frozen cranberries in the frozen food aisle, so I just measure out what I need, place them inside a freezer-safe Ziploc bag and freeze them for this recipe.
Vanilla Glaze Ingredients
- Powdered Sugar
- Whole Milk
- Pure Vanilla Extract
How To Make Orange Cranberry Muffins (With Step-by-Step Photos)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin pan with paper liners or parchment paper liners, or spray each muffin cup with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon until well combined.
In a smaller separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, whole milk, vegetable oil, orange juice, vanilla extract, and the zest of an orange until well combined.
Slowly add the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, mixing with a rubber spatula just until combined and no flour streaks or pockets remain the batter. Be careful not to overmix.
Use a rubber spatula to gently and carefully stir in the frozen cranberries.
Allow the batter to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, filling each one about 2/3 of the way full. Add the remaining frozen cranberries to the tops of the muffins (about 2-3 frozen cranberries per muffin).
Bake for 9-12 minutes or until the muffins have a domed top. Once the tops of the muffins have domed, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 5-6 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. The initial “burst” of the higher oven temperature will cause the muffins to develop that dome top quickly, once they are, you can reduce the temperature and continue cooking.
Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the muffin pan for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Make The Vanilla Glaze : In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, and vanilla extract until combined. If it’s too thick add more milk, a little at a time, until you reach a thick but still pourable consistency.
Once the muffins are completely cooled, use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the top of each muffins. Allow the glaze to set for a few minutes before eating.
How To Store Leftover Cranberry Muffins
- Refrigerator/Room Temperature Storage : Store the leftover muffins in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 3 days. You can also store them in the fridge for up to 1 week. If you’re worried about the milk in the glaze and storing at room temperature you can either use orange juice instead of milk in the glaze, or use canned evaporated milk in the glaze.
- Freezer Storage : These muffins freeze well. Wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap and place the wrapped muffins inside a freezer-safe Ziplock bag or container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature, in the fridge, or in the microwave before serving.
Why Do I Need To Let The Muffin Batter Rest?
Letting the batter rest for at least 20 minutes (or up to 30 minutes) before baking can help the muffins rise better so you get that bakery style domed muffin top.
Why The Two Different Oven Temperatures?
Baking the muffins at a high temperature for the first part of the bake cause the batter to rise quickly, which gives you that pretty domed shape. Reducing the temperature for the remainder of the baking time allows the muffins to bake thoroughly without becoming too brown on top.
Tips For Success
- Mix the muffin batter just until combined and no more. Overmixing can lead to dense muffins that won’t rise properly when baking.
- Buy fresh cranberries and place them in the freezer for at least 6-8 hours before making these muffins. If you can find them (I never can), some grocery stores sell frozen cranberries alongside the other frozen fruits.
- Make sure the muffins are cooled to room temperature before adding the vanilla glaze over top. Adding the glaze onto a warm muffin will cause the glaze to fall right off of it.
- For more orange flavor try adding just a touch (1/8 teaspoon) of orange extract to the vanilla glaze. You could also use orange juice instead of milk in the glaze recipe.
- I highly recommend using parchment paper cupcake/muffin liners. They help the muffins bake evenly and prevent the bottom and sides from getting too browned. I buy them on amazon and they’re linked in the recipe card below.
Try These Other Muffin Recipes
- Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins
- One Bowl Applesauce Muffins
- Nutella Banana Muffins
- Cinnamon Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
- Eggnog Muffins
- Cream Cheese Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
- Cinnamon Monkey Bread Muffins
Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients
Cranberry Muffins
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or canola oil)
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (from 1 large orange)
- 1¼ cups frozen cranberries (cut in half)
Vanilla Glaze
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425℉. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin pan(s) with paper liners or parchment paper liners, or spray each muffin cup with nonstick cooking spray. *The muffin batter does need to rest for 20 minutes so you can also heat the oven up later during that time. **The recipe makes 18 muffins so do two batches or prepare two muffin pans.
Cranberry Muffins
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, kosher salt, and ground cinnamon until well combined.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1¼ cups granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- In a smaller separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, whole milk, vegetable oil, orange juice, vanilla extract, and the zest of an orange until well combined.2 large eggs, 1 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup orange juice, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon orange zest
- Slowly add the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients, mixing with a rubber spatula just until combined and no flour streaks or pockets remain the batter. Be careful not to overmix.
- Use a rubber spatula to gently and carefully stir in 1 cup of the frozen cranberries.1¼ cups frozen cranberries
- Allow the batter to rest for 20 minutes at room temperature.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, filling each one about 2/3 of the way full. Add the remaining frozen cranberries to the tops of the muffins (about 2-3 frozen cranberries per muffin).
- Bake for 9-12 minutes or until the muffins have a domed top. Once the tops of the muffins have domed, reduce the oven temperature to 350℉ and bake for 5-6 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.*The initial "burst" of the higher oven temperature will cause the muffins to develop that dome top quickly, once they are, you can reduce the temperature and continue cooking.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the muffin pan for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until combined.1½ cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons whole milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Once the muffins are completely cooled, use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the top of each muffin. Allow the glaze to set for a few minutes before eating.
Notes
Nutrition
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