Late fall is harvest time for cranberries here in Northern Ontario. The beautiful red jewelled berries grow in marshy areas and you need good rubber boots to go picking them. These berries are quite tart and most recipes incorporate them with a lot of sugar to balance the tartness but I like to let the tartness shine through. This recipe for Fresh Cranberry Lemon Muffins is the perfect backdrop to showcase the tart flavour of the little berries. The lemon zest and cardamon spice play up the cranberries quite nicely.
Making a batch of muffins on a Sunday is one of my favourite things to do. It is so nice to wake up Monday morning knowing that breakfast is already made and ready to go. This recipe does make 24 muffins which means that you can freeze half for later. Fresh Cranberry Lemon Muffins would also be a great addition to a brunch anytime but especially come holiday season as they are already decorated with red.
If you were to bite into a raw cranberry it would remind you of a mini crabapple- so tart it will make you pucker right up. The magic happens once you cook or bake the cranberries and ta-dah delicious appears. I have used cranberries in place of rhubarb in some recipes and have turned out some pretty yummy dishes. So grab a bag of cranberries on your next trip to the grocery store and experiment away- you might just surprise yourself.
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 1¾ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1½ cups fresh cranberries roughly chopped
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cups full-fat yogurt
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon sanding sugar
- Preheat oven to 375 ℉. Line 2 -12 muffin tins with paper liners or grease well.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cardamon.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, yogurt, melted butter and lemon zest.
- Add all at once to the flour mixture and using a spatula mix together. When there are still some flour streaks showing add in the cranberries. Continue mixing until the flour is all incorporated.
- Spoon into muffin tins, dividing equally between all 24 liners. Sprinkle with the sanding sugar.
- Bake 18-20 minutes until tops are just browned and feel firm when pressed.
- Let cool in tins 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack.