Mini Cranberry Corn Muffins

Can you tell I'm getting excited for fall already?! I LOVE cranberries! I usually get a lot of them when Thanksgiving rolls around, but frozen are usually available all year. I hadn't made any muffins in a while, so I thought I'd make some corn muffins this time. And instead of blueberries and lemon, I used cranberries and orange. I love those flavors together! I recently got a mini-muffin tray for my birthday, and I was so excited to use it. As much as my son loves any form of bread... especially muffins, I thought it would be great to make him some "easy to eat" muffins. I normally have to break pieces of muffin apart for him, otherwise he tends to try to cram the whole regular-sized muffin in his mouth, and nearly chokes! These mini muffins are perfectly sized for little hands, and little mouths! :) This recipe is not very sweet. Cranberries are very tart, so if you want them a little sweeter, you could either coat them with some extra sugar before adding them to the mix, or use dried sweetened cranberries. I think these taste great as is, and my son agrees! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup yellow corn meal

1/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

2 tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp orange zest

1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped, and rinsed and drained if frozen

Preheat oven to 425 F. Spray a mini muffin tray* with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Set aside 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a separate medium bowl, combine all wet ingredients except cranberries, making sure the melted butter has cooled. Add wet ingredients to dry, and stir until just combined, don't over-mix. Coat the cranberries with the remaining 1/4 dry ingredients before adding to the batter. Gently fold the cranberries into the batter.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups until about 2/3 full. Bake at 425 F for 12 to 14 minutes (*or 20 to 25 minutes for a regular 12-cup muffin tray). Cool tray on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from tray, and cool completely on a wire rack. Serve and enjoy! 

Makes about 24 mini-muffins, or 12 regular sized muffins.