These Fresh Cranberry Muffins with Orange Icing are the Thanksgiving holiday favorite! The sweet icing is the best part, it strikes a tasty balance with the sourness and the tanginess of the fresh cranberries in the muffins. These muffins are best with fresh cranberries so I always buy extras and freeze some so that I can bake the muffins even when the cranberries are not in season. You can mix the frozen cranberries directly into the muffin batter and bake!
Fresh Cranberry muffins with Orange Icing
Ingredients:
Muffins:
- butter: 1 stick
- milk: 1/2 cup
- brown sugar: 1 cup
- eggs (L): 2
- flour: 2 cups
- baking powder: 1 teaspoon
- baking soda: 1/2 teaspoon
- fresh cranberries (lightly coated in flour): 2 cups (when using dried cranberries use 1 cup)
- orange zest (optional): 1 orange
- vanilla: 1 teaspoon
Orange Icing:
- orange juice: 2 tablespoons (can replace with lemon juice)
- powdered sugar: 1 cup
Steps to make Fresh Cranberry Muffins with Orange Icing:
- Preheat oven to 375F, and prepare a muffin tin,
- Whip butter and sugar until it is light and creamy. Slowly add in eggs one by one and whip until the texture is creamy. Slowly add in milk to the creamy mixture.
- Add in orange zest and vanilla and set aside.
- In another bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Gently fold in the flour to the butter mixture.
- Then mix in the cranberries and fold gently.
- Divide the muffin batter into muffin tin.
- Bake for 30 minutes, test the muffins with a toothpick, making sure the toothpick comes out clean after inserting the toothpick into the muffins.
- During the baking time prepare orange icing by stirring together the orange juice and the powder sugar until the icing is soft and shiny.
- Drizzle the orange icing over the muffins once they are out of the oven. Cool and ready to serve.
