Makes 12 muffins
The holidays are over, but the cranberries linger on! I always have a bunch of odds and ends left over from my whirlwind of holiday baking and cooking. This year I had a lot of citrus and cranberries, so these muffins from Vegan Brunch were the perfect getaway plan.
There’s a lot to love about these muffins – their bright orange flavor and tangy cranberry bite. But the ingredients aren’t just yummy, they’re really convenient, too. You don’t even need any non-dairy milk, just the juice from the oranges. I’ve made these with reduced fat, too. Just use 1/3 cup apple sauce and 1 tablespoon of oil instead of all the oil called for. Also, nuts are optional, I left them out this time around.
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
1 cup pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a muffin tin.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well in the center and add canola oil, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Mix just until all wet ingredients are moistened. About 1/2 way through mixing add the cranberries and nuts.
Fill muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 23 to 27 minutes, until lightly browned on top and a toothpick or knife inserted through the center comes out clean. When cool enough to handle, transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.
Thanks Louise, giving them another go =)
“Mix just until all wet ingredients are moistened”. This should be until dry ingredients are moistened, right? 🙂 The recipe looks fantastic. I will give it a go! I love reading your blog.
I made these with lemon frosting. Oh how yummy!!
Hi… the picture is amazing and I wanna try them this weekend…
I have a quick question – can i use lemon zest instead orange zest?
I’d use a bit less, but sure!
Hi Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe…
one of the best muffins ever !!! and no eggs… yet so moist and crumbly !!
i dint use the zest at all and that worked well… as my cranberries werent too sweet… so adding anything else more citrusy might have affected the flavour…
thanks again…
by the way… one more question…
any other fruit you think can be subsituted for cranberry ?
these are so amazing!! You rocked this one, Isa!
I have to tell you, your recipes and cookbooks have made our 8 week (so far) venture into vegan cooking a doable thing. That is said while I cook for a family of 7, three kids having horrible food allergies, including many beans. I am finding lentils are our BEST friend…and who knew whipped up limas could be a stand in for refried beans! We don’t do other beans like chickpeas (dang) due to allergies, but I am becoming a master at substitution!
keep cooking,Girl!
Thanks so much for letting me know! And yes, lentils are magic.
There’s a distinct possibility my husband and I will polish off every one of these this morning. These are some of the best muffins I’ve ever made, easily, and the first time I’ve baked vegan (I’m not vegan, just out of eggs and not feeling like running to the store.) I’ll definitely be inclined to try baking vegan more often.
Mine had plenty of puff to them, but I didn’t level off the teaspoons of baking soda so the little extra may have done the trick?
My 18 months old baby, who is allergic to eggs, loves them. Thanks!
oh. my. goodness!!! I had such high expectations after reading the comments and they have lived up & surpassed them! the challenge now is getting them home to my parents for thanksgiving breakfast before eating them all myself. THANKS 🙂
Whipped these up in about 5 minutes last night. Subbed whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose. These are crisp on the outside and moist, yet light and fluffy on the inside with a great cranberry “tang”. Great recipe – thanks Isa!
This has become my go-to muffin recipe. I don’t need to remember to buy anything in advance, they take like a minute to assemble, and they always come out perfect. I LOVE THEM. I keep wondering if I could maybe substitute other fruit juices for orange juice and have infinitely variable muffins (which would make me happy forever), but I’m thinking that anything with a different acidity than orange juice would interact differently with the baking powder/soda and produce either sad blobs of unrisen muffin batter or a totally overflowing mess. Has anybody tried using other juices, and was it successful at all?
going to try and make these gluten free today!! hoping they come out. they look so good!
Oolala do I spy a reference to the song “Linger” by the Cranberries, or was that an accident??? Anyway, these look awesome and I cannot wait to bake them!
Love this recipe. Made them and they are absolutely moist. Made some changes for mine though. Added a 1/4 cup of milk and instead of oil, I used melted butter for more flavor. thanks a lot!
SO wanted these to work out…I experimented with some gluten free all purpose flour & they came out kind of gummey on the inside. *sigh
These turned out excellent, I substituted half wholewheat flour for the all purpose flour, 1/2 applesauce for the oil and soaked dried cranberries in regular old no pulp oj and eliminated the zest because I didn’t have an orange. Even with all the modifications delicious!
Could these get any better!? NO! This has quickly become my go to snack/treat! Their so quick and so simple to make, but you would never guess considering their so big on taste! One day I was out of walmuts and opted for almonds and they were just as good! Bless your heart for sharing this!
These muffins are amazing! I have made a couple batches this week using whole frozen cranberries stright from the freezer.
They are a big hit.
By far the BEST muffin recipe I have made. Crazy easy and ridiculously delicious. Thank you so much for all your recipes! Everyone I have tried has turned out perfect in taste and texture, much more so then any of my non-vegan baking ever did!
Wow! These are delish! I used dried cranberries but I reconstituted them with cranberry juice in the fridge overnight, I used 2 Tbl oil + 1/2 cup applesauce, and added 1/4 cup flax meal. These are so good.
I just made these–they are AWESOME.
These turned out perfectly! I was skeptical because I made the carrot muffins and they turned out a little gummy for me, but these had a great texture and don’t seem vegan at all! I was about 1/4 cup short on orange juice so I substituted a little lemon juice and water for the remainder. I will make these again and again!
These are excellent. I’ve made the cranberry orange recipe and just tried an apple version. I do the low fat version and use 1 cup white flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour. I replace the orange juice with apple cider, apple chunks for the cranberries, and use half cup of chopped walnuts. SO good! Better than my old non vegan recipe for sure!
LOVE these muffins! MY variation on the recipe? Using Orange Extract in place of the Almond Extract…only because I didn’t happen to have Almond Extract in my kitchen! WOW! Such an awesome ORANGE flavor! MMMMMMMMMMMMM!
I made these as Chocolate Orange Muffins today and they rock. Omit the nuts, sub out cranberries for vegan chocolate chips, sub out almond extract for orange extract. They taste like those whack-and-unwrap chocolate Christmas oranges. Mmmmm….
I used cranberries and left over cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and sliced almonds instead of walnuts. Turned out pretty good!
Oh my these are AMAZING!!!! AND my house smells unbelievable! Thx so much!
Use whole wheat pastry flour for 1 cup of the flour, add in 1 Tbsp of grown flax for more fiber and omega-3 s and cut oil in half for healthier muffins with just as much flavor.
I added a few choc chips to each muffin as I poured them into the muffin tin and used dried cranberries. Aaaaaaaaaaaaamazing! Only five are left. They are getting gobbled up. Will be making as Christmas gifts for friends. 🙂
Lovers of all things lemon-flavored should know these are great with 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup orange juice, and lemon zest.
Just wanted to say that I made these oil-free (using all applesauce) and with spelt flour, and they are ridiculous–so tasty, and with a beautiful, moist dense-but-not-too-denseness. I’ve snarfed two in two minutes and have to keep taking a break from typing this to slap my hand away from the rest. Plus I feel so damn righteous it’s scary.
I’ve made this twice and love them, but I’d like to make them as big as the muffins you would get at a Dunkin’ Donuts. The disposable muffin tins I used at first were like cupcakes and the one my wife just bought for me is the same size. Does anyone have the big tins and know the manufacturer and model for one?
I made these today and they are super! Thank you.