Iced Orange Cranberry Muffins

HELLO my friends!  Happy November and happy new week! While I’m seeing all my fellow influencers decorating for Christmas, it makes me anxious, cause we can’t pass up Thanksgiving!  It just wouldn’t feel right. But cooking and testing out menus, dishes, and such for Christmas—I’m okay with.  So I’m here to share these favorite iced orange cranberry muffins!

They make the best holiday muffin! Actually – they don’t have to be for the holidays exclusively!  I buy cranberries in bulk and freeze ’em so I have them throughout the year.  I love cranberries!

What do I love about these?

• the tanginess
• the zing from the orange
• the icing
• the moistness
• the tartness from the cranberries

All make for the perfect muffin to pair with your coffee, hot tea, or served with a soup and salad! YUM!!!

Iced Orange Cranberry Muffins

What makes these so special?  Well, let’s start with the fact that we trim off the orange skin and chop it all up in my mini food processor, and add in place of simple orange zest.  This little step makes all the difference in these.  Please for the love… don’t skip it!!!

I also grab a cupful of frozen cranberries and finely chop them up for better distribution. And if you know someone who’s not crazy about whole or big chunks of cranberries like my Mr., then this will be the perfect method for such a person.

Who in turn will thank you and will fall in love with cranberries and you!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Iced Orange Cranberry Muffins

tang, zest and zing all rolled up in a perfect muffin combo!

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread, dessert, snack, sweet

Ingredients

Batter:

• 1/3 c fresh orange juice
• 2 teaspoons chopped orange zest pith and all
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 6 tablespoons salted butter melted
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries finely chopped
• 1/2 cup nuts / walnuts or pecans optional

Icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar confectioners
• 1-2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Line muffin tins or use parchment for loaf pans.
• In a small bowl, whisk together orange juice, orange zest, buttermilk, butter and egg. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.
• Stir liquid ingredients into dry until combined.
• Gently stir in cranberries. Do not overmix.
• Pour batter into prepared muffin tins or loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20 -30minutes for muffins and slightly longer for loaves.
• Continue to bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted into center of muffins and loaves comes out clean.
• Cool for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and cool to touch before icing.

These will be perfect for gifting in a cute basket, a new dish towel, and tied with a bow! You can even make mini loaves (as shown above) vs the muffins!  Equally as delicious!