Cranberry Applesauce Muffins

We finally put up our Christmas lights, 6 days before Christmas!  We went out to the street after dark to check them out, and realized that everyone else on our block had lights up.  It sure is colorful out there!

With all that Christmas spirit outside, it’s time to break out the cranberries.  Christmas snuck up on me this year.  I didn’t even notice the fresh cranberries at Trader Joe’s until yesterday.

I bake cranberry bread every year, but Sunday is muffin baking day so today I used the cranberries for muffins.  Cranberry bread will have to wait!

These muffins are simple to make.  The most difficult part is figuring out the best way to chop the cranberries.  Since they’re little and round, they like to try to escape from under the knife.  I ended up chopping each one individually into 3 or 4 pieces.  Once they’re all chopped up, the batter comes together very quickly.  Spoon it into the muffin pan, pop it into the oven, and you’ve got cranberry muffins!

Note: I scaled back the amount of sugar in this recipe, because I like to taste the tartness of the cranberries.  If you prefer your muffins to be sweeter I would recommend using 1 cup of sugar, as called for in the original recipe.

Cranberry Applesauce Muffins
Adapted from East Village Kitchen
Yield: 12 muffins

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
2 cups white whole wheat flour (you can use all-purpose flour if you prefer)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped and sprinkled with a touch of granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a muffin tin with butter, or line with muffin cup liners.  Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Working over the bowl of flour, place the chopped cranberries into a fine sieve and toss with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the flour mixture.  Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the applesauce and brown sugar until well combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Mix in the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture, beating on low speed, just until combined.  Pour in milk, and mix just until combined.  Fold in the cranberries with a rubber spatula.  Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool muffins in the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then remove muffins from pan and cool directly on rack.