These dried cranberry muffins are moist and fluffy with the perfect combination of sweet and tart flavors. They're a delicious treat for a Fall or Winter breakfast and only take 30 minutes to make!
Cranberry is such an underrated holiday flavor. They're so juicy and vibrant! These moist dried cranberry muffins are perfect to make for Fall or Thanksgiving if you're over all things pumpkin. They have tart dried cranberries in every bite!
This recipe uses the same basic batter as my buttermilk muffin recipe, so they're fluffy and tender. With no mixer required and just a handful of pantry-staple ingredients, these will be a breakfast and brunch staple during the holiday season.
If you love muffins, check out these pumpkin cream cheese muffins, dried cherry muffins, almond raspberry muffins, or white chocolate raspberry muffins.
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Key Ingredient Notes
- All purpose flour- Flour is easy to overmeasure, and too much makes muffins dry. Measure it in grams with a kitchen scale for the best results. If you don't have a scale, fluff up the flour in the bag before gently spooning it into your measuring cup. Once overflowing, swipe off the excess.
- Baking powder- Baking powder reacts with the oven's heat and makes the muffins rise, getting those tall muffin tops! Make sure it isn't expired before using.
- Melted butter- I prefer unsalted butter to add fat, a rich buttery flavor, and to control the amount of salt in the muffins. Muffins don't rely on the structure of creamed butter like cupcakes do, so melted butter is perfectly fine to use.
- Oil- Muffins made with only butter can be a bit dense. Using oil with butter adds more moisture that keeps them soft! Use flavorless neutral oil like canola oil or vegetable oil.
- Buttermilk- The acid in this ingredient cuts the gluten strands from the flour and makes muffins super fluffy with a tender crumb. You can also use plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.
- Dried cranberries- I prefer unsweetened dried cranberries (or craisins), but sweetened work too.
Variation Ideas
- Citrus: Add a tablespoon of lemon zest or orange zest to the batter for a bright juicy flavor! Even a tablespoon of orange juice tastes great.
- Add icing: Drizzle with glaze or spread frosting on top for more sweetness! I highly recommend this small batch cream cheese frosting.
Step by Step Instructions
Before you start, prepare a muffin pan with paper muffin liners and set aside. Preheat the oven to 425ยฐF (220ยฐC).
Step 1: Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Step 2: In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk cooled melted butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract together. Do this vigorously until well combined.
Step 3: Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stopping when there are still a few dry patches of flour. It's ok if there are lumps!
Step 4: Fold in the dried cranberries until the dry flour streaks just disappear. Don't overmix at this stage because it can make the muffins gummy and dense.
Step 5: Use a large cookie scoop to spoon batter into the paper liners, filling to the top. Top with more craisins and coarse sugar and bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400ยฐF (200ยฐC) and bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Baking the muffins at an initial high heat helps the tops rise rapidly for that domed look!
Step 6: Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the hot pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Don't leave them in longer because condensation can form from the heat and make the muffins soggy.
Let them cool on the rack until they reach room temperature and enjoy!
Expert Baking Tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. Room temperature eggs and buttermilk mix in more evenly and create a uniform batter. Pull them out of the fridge 1-2 hours before baking.
- Use a metal pan. Aluminum muffin tins heat up more evenly and need less time to cook. Don't use a silicone pan because your muffins will burn.
- Fill the muffin cups almost all the way! For sky high muffin tops, fill each muffin liner almost all the way full.
- Don't overmix. Fold in the dried cranberries just until the dry patches of flour disappear. It's ok if there are some lumps. Mixing too much makes for tough, gummy muffins.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can't swap regular milk for buttermilk. The acid in buttermilk is super important for creating fluffy, tall muffins!
Yes, fresh or frozen cranberries work for this recipe too too! Chop fresh cranberries before adding them to the batter, and use the leftovers to make this cranberry cream cheese bread! If you use frozen ones, I recommend coating them with a little flour before folding in to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffin liners.
Yes, you can make the muffin batter the night before. Make sure to cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator. I don't recommend making it any further in advance because the batter can dry out in the fridge.
Storage Tips
Store the dried cranberry muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can store them in the refrigerator for up to 6 days, but they might dry out sooner.
To freeze, store the muffins in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter for a couple hours before eating. You can also microwave for about 20 seconds or reheat in the oven for 5 minutes at 350ยฐF (180ยฐC).
More Muffin Recipes to Try
๐ Recipe
Dried Cranberry Muffins
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 310 grams all purpose flour
- 250 grams granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ยฝ teaspoon salt
- 56 grams melted butter unsalted
- 55 grams oil
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 180 grams buttermilk room temperature
- 180 grams dried cranberries
Instructions
- Line a muffin pan with liners and set aside. Preheat a conventional oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (220 degrees Celsius).
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.310 grams all purpose flour, 250 grams granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ยฝ teaspoon salt
- In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Add the buttermilk and whisk until smooth with no lumps.56 grams melted butter, 55 grams oil, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 180 grams buttermilk
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula or large spoon until a few dry pockets of flour remain.
- Gently fold in the dried cranberries until the dry streaks of flour just disappear. It's ok if there are some lumps.180 grams dried cranberries
- Scoop the batter into the muffins liners evenly, filling each nearly full. Sprinkle coarse sugar and extra craisins on top if desired.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) and continue baking for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in the hot pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely and enjoy!
Julia K.
I made these exactly as written with one craisin variation. I had a bag of craisins in my fridge for several months and I thought they were a bit too dry so I rehydrated them and they plumped up nicely so I used 1.5 cups plumped craisins instead of dry. The muffins turned out very well. (Also did the math and 50 grams of oil is 3.8 Tbls.). We ate 2 for a snack and froze the rest for later. Not too sweet and moist inside and crunchy outside. I didn't use paper liners. I have a 50 year old muffin tin that I slather with butter and they pop out after 10 minutes of rest.
Daphane
I made these today but made some substitutions. I used 1/2 flour and 1/2 organic pea flour. I used 1/2 organic sugar and 1/2 organic coconut sugar. I added a little organic cinnamon and added some cranberry/strawberry/pomegranate jelly i made. I baked at 350, at 425 the tops were burning. Turned out fabulous!! Thanks for the recipe.
Karen
I made this recipe exactly as written but they came out a bit dry. The flavor is great and they are wonderful with coffee. Just canโt understand why they were so dry.
Susann Codish
I made these yesterday and found them delicious! Like Karen's earlier this month, my muffins were a tiny bit dry, but I attribute that to my haphazard butter measuring. The batter itself was also very dry - too dry, I thought (I rarely bake muffins, so my impression might be irrelevant) - so I also added another teaspoon or two of buttermilk.
All in all - outstanding!
Glorey
I made as is, but used what I had on hand. I used a half a cup of oil instead of oil/butter.
I did not use eggs at room temperature, just out of the fridge, I added a 3/4 a cup of plain yoghurt instead of buttermilk, and I spooned into two, 9 x 5 bread pans and baked for 50 minutes. It made two amazing loaves, definitely a keeper.
Marcie Zierman
The best muffins Iโve ever had very addictive. I make them a lot..
Barb Smale
love this recipe. substituted Splenda for sugar, half oil and half applesauce to make more sugar free. Firm outside, soft and moist inside! it's a keeper!!
Ann
I made this recipe today using powdered milk and a tablespoon of vinegar in place of the buttermilk. I had extra mixture after filling a 12 muffin pan so I made some mini muffins being careful not to over cook them they turned out delicious and moist. I will make them again.