Since the beginning of the year, with the new set of daily routines, I am finding it more and more difficult to spend time on baking or blogging :(
It was with some luck that I managed to squeeze in some time last week to bake a batch of muffins. I adapted the recipe for the raisins & chocolate chips muffins and turned it into these Cranberry Orange & Chocolate chips muffins. A great way to use up those little packs of dried cranberries or craisins that I have bought several weeks ago.
The muffins were baked almost to a perfection...what I mean is, that my oven took the same recommended time to get the muffins all beautifully browned. With the help of a oven thermometer, I had let the oven preheated slightly above the required temperature...so by the time the muffins were in the oven, the temperature dropped to the desired level at 180degC.
I liked the way the muffins were all cracked nicely on top...and they tasted fabulous...very fluffy and moist...despite the fact that there's no yoghurt or buttermilk used in this recipe. The craisins and orange combo went every well together too. The only thing that I can find fault with these muffins is that they were a little on the sweet side for me...all due to the white chocolate chips that I have used! Next time I will either cut down on the sugar, or used dark chocolate chips instead.
Ingredients:
(makes 8 muffins)
60g unsalted butter, melted
zest of 1 orange
250g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (white or dark)
1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1 egg, lightly beaten
125ml milk
50ml orange juice
125g granulated sugar (original recipe calls for 150g sugar)
Method:
It was with some luck that I managed to squeeze in some time last week to bake a batch of muffins. I adapted the recipe for the raisins & chocolate chips muffins and turned it into these Cranberry Orange & Chocolate chips muffins. A great way to use up those little packs of dried cranberries or craisins that I have bought several weeks ago.
The muffins were baked almost to a perfection...what I mean is, that my oven took the same recommended time to get the muffins all beautifully browned. With the help of a oven thermometer, I had let the oven preheated slightly above the required temperature...so by the time the muffins were in the oven, the temperature dropped to the desired level at 180degC.
I liked the way the muffins were all cracked nicely on top...and they tasted fabulous...very fluffy and moist...despite the fact that there's no yoghurt or buttermilk used in this recipe. The craisins and orange combo went every well together too. The only thing that I can find fault with these muffins is that they were a little on the sweet side for me...all due to the white chocolate chips that I have used! Next time I will either cut down on the sugar, or used dark chocolate chips instead.
Ingredients:
(makes 8 muffins)
60g unsalted butter, melted
zest of 1 orange
250g plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (white or dark)
1/2 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1 egg, lightly beaten
125ml milk
50ml orange juice
125g granulated sugar (original recipe calls for 150g sugar)
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 180degC (350 degF).
- Melt butter in a saucepan, over low heat, set aside to cool.
- Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Add chocolate chips, craisins, orange zest and mix with a spatula. Make a well in the centre.
- Place egg, melted butter, milk, orange juice and sugar in another bowl. Mix (with a manual whisk) until thoroughly combined. (To cut down on washing up, I mixed these ingredients into the saucepan which I used to melt the butter).
- Pour the liquid mixture into the flour. With the spatula, gently fold all the ingredients to form a wet batter. Just mix until the flour are incorporate into the batter. DO NOT Over mix. The batter will appear lumpy.
- Spoon batter into paper muffin cups. Bake for 15~20mins until muffins turn golden brown or a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Let cool on a wire rack.
18 comments:
As usual, lovely muffins! :)
Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year, Happy Homebaker! Gong Xi Fa Cai! :D
Hi, would like to know where did you get the oven thermometer?
Hi Aimei, thanks! Xin Nian Kuai Le!
Hi Anonymous, I got my oven thermometer from Phoon Huat.
Those muffins sound really good.
Hi Your muffins looked so good I made a batch last night, but I think I over mixed (even though you put in CAPS not to!) so see lah, don't follow instructions and they came out a little like rock cakes. But still yum!
Thanks for great recipes!
C.T.
those are nice muffins, HBB...happy CNY to you, may you have lots of luck! :)
Had to tag these ones - what a great combination
Hi HHB :)
The muffins look gorgeous! I just realised that a few of your recent recipes, including this one, are from the same book as I have! Unlike you though, I have not experimented a great deal with the recipes so far unfortunately, because my oven's bad heating properties prevent it from being able to properly cook through loaves of bread. Having said that, the Swedish Dill Bread worked for me, and I highly recommend it. It tastes absolutely fantastic, because of it's yummy flavour and mouth-watering aroma.
Back to the muffins; I've never tried making any baked goods with orange, coz the thought of cooked oranges does not appeal to me - does it make the product taste really orangey (or is this obvious?) and does the juice from the fruit seep into the batter to make the cake all soggy (coz I find that ripe peaches do that)?
Happy Chinese New Year!
Hi Kevin, thanks!
Hi C.T., sorry to hear about the unsuccessful attempt. Yes, for muffins, never over mix the batter, it should be very lumpy. Hope you have better luck next time, cheers :D
Eliza, thanks, and happy lunar new year!
Hi Giz, I'll like to agree that this combo is really great ;D
Hi Jo, I borrowed this book from the library. I only copied down certain recipe, and not the Swedish Dill bread. Will sure look out for this recipe if I come across this book again. For this recipe, there is no orange chuncks/slices added, so it will not make the muffins soggy, only the zest and juice is used. Hope this helps :)
your muffins looks sooo yummilicious! will try it later.
btw, would you have any recipes for green tea muffins? i especially like those from breadtalk.
Hi Chewy, thanks! I don't have any recipes for green tea muffins! Will certainly like to try one of those from breadtalk :)
Hi, recently came across your blog while looking up recipes for cakes, cupcakes and cookies.
Have a question to pose to you. I'm planning to do cupcakes as my hubby likes cupcakes. The thing is that I'm using microwave oven with convectional function, (2 in 1 type)
The cupcake cups which is like the paper muffin cups in your Cranberry, Orange & Chocolate Chips Muffins recipe, can be used in the oven as mentioned?
My hubby is concerned that it might burn into flames when put into the oven to bake? Can advise?
Hi, thanks for visiting :)
I am afraid I am not sure about using these paper liners in your oven as these paper liners I bought do not state whether they are safe for use in microwave ovens...however, if u get paper liners from Daiso, most of the time it's stated in the packaging whether it is safe for use in the oven, and some also state the max. temperature. Do check with the staff there as the text are written in Japanese. Hope this helps.
Hi Happy Homebaker,
Thanks for the advice. Will drop by Daiso to check it out.
I'd tried out your 'Pooh & Piglet cut out cookies recipe to a T. The only difference is the cookie cutters as I had got them some months back from Daiso intending to learn baking. However it is too big and I tried unsuccessfully to cut as the dough kept breaking. So I upped the thickness of the dough first before cutting. I managed to cut in the end.Also I added choc chips to the dough. The after taste was good. We both finished the cookies.
Currently attempting to do a seafood version of your chicken & mushroom baked rice right now. (It's in the oven baking at the moment)
hey found this recipe here: http://bit.ly/atXQlN
Love muffins, loved the recipe as well :)
Indeed yummylicious muffins ;)
Hello HHB!! :D
i just tried this recipe and it turned out real great! :D it won praises from my mom and her friends with it's aroma of orange, sweet and sour taste of the cranberry, and it's moist texture ^^
thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe ^^
Hi denise, glad to hear that you have great success with this recipe =)
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