Cranberry-Orange Crumble Muffins

Below is the voice note I received from a friend about these muffins.

Here’s what she actually said: “ I have to send you a voice note because you just slayed so hard.”

Her girlfriend: “Yeah, girl!”

Friend: “What is it? Slap my ass like a damn drum? No for real this muffin, oh my god. Like the hint of orange, the burst of the cranberry…”

GF: I never knew I liked cranberries.

Friend: You’re changing minds.

I started developing these early this year when I was working through leftover cranberries and I’m so glad I remembered to come back to them. I chop up the cranberries, which is a bit of an annoying task but I think it stops the super sour sensation that sometimes plagues me when I get a big hunk of cranberry with no sweetness to offset it. Orange zest is subtle but makes it feel even more festive. It would be *so* crazy to use the juice to make a little glaze to go on top of these (not that they need it.)

This is a one-bowl recipe thanks to a technique I learned from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. By mixing our sugar, butter, spices, flour and leaveners, reserving some of that and then thinning out the rest with the dairy and eggs, the crumble topping is already built into the batter recipe. How convenient!

My favorite muffin tips for you all:

1. Fill every other well. This helps circulate more heat around the outsides of the muffins, cooking their exteriors faster and sending the batter inside soaring upwards, creating the dome we all want.

2. Chilling/resting your batter. Even one hour in the fridge will help the batter relax and allow the liquids to more fully hydrate the flour. This will result in a better rise and texture.

3. Start it off hot and then cool it down. I start these muffins’ bake at a high temp and then turn the oven down halfway in. This means that you’ll get optimal “oven spring” from the initial blast of heat, and so that they cook all the way through and their insides can set, without burning.

4. Fill those tins all the way up. The best way to get bigger muffins is to…. use more batter.

Cranberry-Orange Crumble Muffins

Makes 12 regular muffins or 6 jumbo muffins

Ingredients