Cranberry & Orange Muffins
100g (¾ cup) Alison’s Pantry Cranberries
¼ cup water
2 oranges, rind and juice
75g butter
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 cups self-raising flour
Turn the oven to 170°C with a rack in the middle.
Put the cranberries in a microwave-proof container, pour the water over them, cover them and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take out and put aside about a tablespoon of the cranberries.
Finely grate the orange rind into the bowl with the cranberries, then squeeze the juice into a measuring cup. Measure juice carefully, adding extra water if necessary to make it up to ½ cup. Add this to the cranberry mixture.
Melt the measured butter until just liquid and put it aside, meantime.
Beat the eggs until well blended in the measuring cup, and put aside, as well.
Into a large bowl (big enough to hold everything) measure the sugar and the self-raising flour. (Stir the flour in its bag with a fork, then fork or spoon some of it into a measuring cup, filling it. Level it off without banging or pressing it down. ) Toss the sugar and flour together with a fork.
Coat the muffin pan with non-stick spray or oil.
Add to the flour mixture, without stirring, the orange and cranberry mixture, the melted butter, and the mixed eggs. When everything is added, fold the liquid and dry ingredients together with a flexible stirrer, until no streaks of flour are visible. (At no time beat the mixture or the muffins will be tough and rise in peaks.)
Spoon the muffin mixture into the muffin pans using two household tablespoons. Help the mixture off the first spoon with the second spoon. Put a few of the put-aside cranberries on each muffin.
Bake the muffins at 170°C for about 12 minutes, until the muffins spring back when pressed. Leave muffins in their pan for a few minutes, so they are easy to lift out.
Download PDF version: Alison Holst’s Cranberry & Orange Muffins