Recipe: Cranberry-Oat Breakfast Muffins
At the end of every year comes the fun ritual where cranberry bogs are flooded to harvest the tart fruit that is turkey’s best friend. As cranberries make their way into grocery stores in fresh, frozen, and canned form, take advantage of their appearance and add some fall flair to breakfast with these cranberry-oat muffins. Made with a double dose of cranberry, these hearty muffins can work as a treat for houseguests or as an on-the-go breakfast on a busy weekday morning.
No Softening Means Fast Muffins
These muffins are easy and quick enough that they can be whipped up in the morning if you’re feeling like muffins for breakfast. The muffin batter uses Country Crock Baking Sticks, which can be used straight out of the refrigerator without any softening. Made with sunflower oil, they can replace butter in any recipe (just use a 1:1 ratio) and have a great buttery flavor to complement the oats, cinnamon, and brown sugar in these muffins.
Double Down on Cranberries
Cranberries are the star of the show here, and they’re used in two forms. First, cranberry sauce gets mixed into the batter, tinging it just a touch pink and adding jam-like flavor into each bite. Next, whole cranberries (fresh or frozen) are folded in for tart pops of flavor. But there’s one more surprise bonus: Some cranberry sauce gets spooned onto each muffin before baking for a little pocket of fruity fun.
If you need a hostess gift or want an easy, festive holiday morning breakfast, these muffins are it. But don’t think that they can only be enjoyed during cranberry season: If you stock up on cranberries and freeze them, you can enjoy these muffins any time of year!
Cranberry-Oat Breakfast Muffins
Prep time 19 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Makes 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Cooking spray or paper muffin liners
- 1 1/2 cups
all-purpose flour
- 1 cup
old-fashioned rolled oats
- 2 teaspoons
baking powder
- 1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon
salt
- 1 stick
(4 ounces) Country Crock® Unsalted Baking Sticks
- 1/4 cup
packed light brown sugar
- 1
large egg
- 1/2 cup
whole milk
- 3/4 cup
whole berry cranberry sauce, divided
- 1 1/2 cups
fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
Instructions
Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375ºF. Line a standard 12-well muffin pan with paper liners or coat the wells with cooking spray.
Place the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine; set aside.
Place the Country Crock Unsalted Baking Stick and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer and large bowl.) Beat on medium speed until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, milk, and 1/2 cup of the cranberry sauce until combined.
Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Use a spatula to fold in the cranberries by hand.
Divide the batter evenly between the wells in the pan, filling each well 3/4 full. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the remaining cranberry sauce on each muffin.
Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer the muffins to cooling racks and cool completely.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
This post was created by the Kitchn Creative Studio and is sponsored by Country Crock.
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