These high altitude cranberry orange muffins are bursting with tart cranberries in a fluffy orange muffin, with crunchy sugar-crusted muffin tops. Slather these delicious muffins with butter, or for an extra sweet finish, drizzle them with orange icing.
Looking for more holiday recipes? You’ll love these apple cider pancakes with cinnamon apples, classic pecan pie, and cranberry almond crumb bars.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Quick and Easy. This is a really easy recipe to make, with no mixer required for creaming butter and sugar. Simply whisk together the ingredients into a batter and bake the muffins.
Pretty and Festive. I love making cranberry desserts during the holidays, and the bright red cranberries in these muffins look so beautiful for a Christmas brunch.
Great Leftover. These cranberry orange muffins stay moist and soft for several days, and I love toasting them in the convection oven for a quick breakfast through the week.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Sugar. I used both granulated sugar and light brown sugar to sweeten the muffins and add moisture. Coarse Turbinado sugar sprinkled over the batter before baking gives the muffins a crunchy golden brown muffin top.
- Orange. To give these muffins the best orange flavor, use a combination of fresh orange zest, orange juice and orange extract.
- Butter. Melted butter adds fat and flavor.
- Flour. All-purpose flour gives the muffins structure and strength.
- Corn Starch. Tenderizes the muffins for a soft, fluffy crumb.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent.
- Spices. Cardamom and nutmeg adds wonderful complementary flavor to the orange and cranberries.
- Sour Cream. Adds moisture and acidity for a soft texture.
- Eggs. Adds stability and strength.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Cranberries. Use fresh or frozen cranberries for bright bursts of juicy cranberries all throughout the muffins.
Instructions
Getting ready.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Line a standard-sized muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Spray the liners and the top of the pan with non-stick baking spray.
TIP: Rubbing the orange zest into the sugar before whisking up the batter infuses so much more orange flavor into these muffins.
Rub the orange zest into the sugar.
- In a bowl, use your fingers to rub the orange zest into the sugar until fragrant.
Whisk the batter and sprinkle with sugar.
- Add the brown sugar, flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt, cardamom and nutmeg, and whisk until combined.
- Separately, whisk together the orange juice, sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, orange extract, and melted butter. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a spoon to stir everything together until mostly combined, but a few floury streaks remain, then use a spatula to fold the cranberries into the batter. The batter will be very thick.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, using an ice cream/cupcake scoop with a release lever to make it easier. The cups will be very full, with the batter mounded up.
- Sprinkle the batter with the Turbinado sugar.
TIP: By preheating the oven to 425, and then turning the heat down to 375, you’re giving the muffins a burst of heat at the beginning. This helps to create big fluffy muffin tops that are crisp from the sprinkling of coarse sugar.
Bake the muffins.
- Put the muffins in the oven, and immediately turn the heat down to 375 F. Bake the muffins until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
- If the cranberries are still cold or slightly frozen, it could take 20-22 minutes for the muffins to bake through. If the cranberries are fully thawed, it may take 15-20 minutes for the muffins to bake through.
Orange Icing
These cranberry orange muffins are more tart than sweet, so it you like a little extra sweetness, drizzle them with orange icing after baking.
- Simply whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar + 1-2 tablespoons orange juice, and drizzle the icing over the warm muffins.
- The icing should set and crust over in about 15 minutes. This type of icing tends to be a little sticky the following day.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use dried cranberries instead of fresh or frozen?
Fresh or frozen cranberries are best in muffins, since they burst from the heat of the oven and create juicy, bright red pockets of tart cranberries. You might be able to use dried cranberries, but you should soak them in hot water first, to plump them up. Using dried cranberries might result in a drier muffin, though, since they will absorb moisture from the muffin as they cool.
What does the corn starch do?
It tenderizes the muffin for a soft, fluffy texture.
Can I substitute Greek yogurt for the sour cream?
If you don’t have sour cream, you can use unsweetened plain Greek yogurt, or even buttermilk.
Will vegetable oil work instead of melted butter?
Yes, it should work just fine.
Would these muffins be good with a crumb topping?
Of course! I’d recommend the crumb topping on these blueberry muffins.
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High Altitude Cranberry Orange Muffins
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Standard Muffin Pan with 12 Cups
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fresh orange zest (from 1/2 of a navel orange)
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ cup orange juice, fresh or bottled
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp orange extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ cup fresh or frozen and thawed cranberries
- ¼ cup coarse Turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a standard-sized muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Spray the liners and the top of the pan with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, use your fingers to rub the orange zest into the sugar until fragrant.
- Add the brown sugar, flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt, cardamom and nutmeg, and whisk until combined.
- Separately, whisk together the orange juice, sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, orange extract, and melted butter. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a spoon to stir everything together until mostly combined, but a few floury streaks remain, then use a spatula to fold the cranberries into the batter. The batter will be very thick.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, using an ice cream/cupcake scoop with a release lever to make it easier. The cups will be very full, with the batter mounded up.
- Sprinkle the batter with the Turbinado sugar.
- Put the muffins in the oven, and immediately turn the heat down to 375 F. Bake the muffins until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. If the cranberries are still cold or slightly frozen, it could take 20-22 minutes for the muffins to bake through. If the cranberries are fully thawed, it may take 15-20 minutes for the muffins to bake through.
These came out picture perfect! They are only slightly sweet which I really like. It’s nice to find a recipe that works at high altitude without any tweaking. Thanks!
I’m so glad! I like the tartness of them, too, rather than a muffin that’s as sweet as a cupcake.
Could you quarter he cranberries and bake in mini muffin pans? And if so, for how long? 10-12 min?
I’m sure that would work just fine to cut the cranberries smaller for mini muffins. I’m not sure on the bake time, but I probably wouldn’t start them at 425, and would just bake them at 375 the whole time.