Bakery Style Cranberry Orange Muffins

Bakery-style buttermilk Cranberry orange muffins are simply the best.  A sweet, buttery muffin filled with tart, juicy cranberries, orange zest, and an orange glaze.

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Why You’ll Love This

Fall is not just for pumpkin flavor. Although I’m a huge fan of pumpkin, these muffins are outstanding. I just switched out the flavor profile of our blueberry muffin recipe, which we think is the most amazing muffin.

• Moist and bursting with bright citrus flavors and tart cranberries!
• Light and fluffy crumb texture.
• An easy cranberry orange recipe made fresh by you with everyday ingredients.
• Just the right amount of sweetness, not loaded down with sugar.
• So much better than Starbucks!

We also love our morning buns, ham and cheese strata, maple bacon french toast, and breakfast sausage cake for feeding our holiday guests!

Key Ingredients

• All-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt – The base ingredients for the muffins.
• Eggs, buttermilk, unsalted butter, and vegetable oil – Adds moisture, flavor, and structure.
• Vanilla extract, granulated sugar, orange zest – The combination of these provides sweetness and fantastic flavor.

How to Make Cranberry Orange Muffins

This cranberry orange muffin recipe makes 12 large muffins. I like to use jumbo muffin liners.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with baking spray or line it with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the eggs and 1 cup of sugar to a medium bowl and whisk until thick and pale. Slowly whisk in the vegetable oil and melted butter until combined.

Add the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and orange zest and mix until combined.

Toss 1 1/4 cups of cranberries (reserving 1/4 cup for the tops) with the dry ingredients. You can use frozen or fresh cranberries.

Combine the wet ingredients with the flour mixture and gently fold just until combined. Do not overmix.

Fill the 12 prepared muffin pan cups, mounding slightly, and gently press the remaining cranberries into the top of each muffin.

Bake for 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let them cool while you prepare the glaze.

Whisk the glaze ingredients together (powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest) and drizzle over the top of the muffins.

If you drizzle with the glaze while the muffins are hot, they will melt completely.

Let them cool to the touch.

Serve these simply delightful cranberry orange muffins for breakfast, and enjoy! The orange flavor pops in these beauties.

Tips

• If using frozen cranberries, do not thaw them. Toss them with the dry ingredients just like using fresh berries. This prevents them from dropping to the bottom of the muffins.
• If you want to use dried cranberries, I would soak them in hot water for at least 10 minutes, then pat them dry. The taste and texture won’t be the same as fresh or frozen berries. They will be a bit chewier and sweeter.
• Be sure to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients (DO NOT WHISK or use an electric mixer). You could over-mix the batter resulting in tough, dense muffins.
• I recommend large muffin tin liners, these muffins rise tall.
• You can omit the glaze or sprinkle some turbinado sugar over the tops before baking.

Variations

• You can gently fold in 1/2 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts.
• Add 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or white chocolate chips.

FAQ

More Delicious Breakfast Muffins Recipes

Recipe slightly adapted from Cook’s Illustrated 

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