Orange Cranberry Muffins

These kid-friendly fruity muffins make a good, healthy breakfast or anytime snack!  An excellent combination of cranberries and oranges giving it a tangy cranberry bite and bright orange flavour!

Ingredients:

All purpose flour – 2 cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Baking powder – 1 ½ tsp
Baking soda - ½ tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Orange rind - 1 tbsp
Orange juice – ¾ cup
Vegetable oil – ¼ cup
Egg – 1
Milk – ½ cup
Walnuts- ¼ cup (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C; Line a muffin / cupcake pan with paper liners.

Grate the rind from one whole orange (making about 1 tablespoon of rind) and set aside.

Place the dried cranberries and the freshly squeezed orange juice in a small sauce pan and bring to simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring as needed. Turn off heat and set aside.
(This helps plump up the dried cranberries)

In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, walnuts and set aside.

In a separate bowl add oil, orange juice and cranberries, orange zest, egg, milk. Blend until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into dry mixture and stir until combined (do not over mix!). 

Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin tin.  Bake at 180 deg C for about 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out of the muffin, clean. Cool muffins on a wire cooling rack and serve.