Festive Cranberry Muffins

I've been meaning to try some Christmas baking for a while and I finally found the time to create these little treats. I read a lot of warnings about cooking with fresh cranberries as they can be slightly bitter. This is why I turned them into a sauce first and then added that to the muffins. The recipe makes twice the amount of Cranberry sauce that you need for the Muffins. You can either use the remainder as a Cranberry sauce for your Christmas  dinner or I will be publishing another recipe that needs fresh cranberries in the next few days.

Ingredients
300g fresh cranberries
Juice from 1 satsuma
150g honey
3 tbsps cold water
1 banana
400g self raising flour
4 tbsps coconut oil
150g skimmed milk
1 egg

Method
1. Place the cranberries, water, honey and satsuma juice in a large pan and simmer for between 5 - 10 minutes until the cranberries are completely softened.

2. Remove from heat and purée the mixture. I used a hand blender. Set aside to cool.

3. Peel the banana, break into pieces, place in a bowl and purée.  Again, I used a hand blender.

4. Add the egg and mix together.

5. Mix in the coconut oil and stir well until fully combined.

6. Add the milk and flour and mix until you have a sticky mixture. 

7. Take approximately 150g of the Cranberry sauce and fold it gently into the mixture. Your mixture should then turn a lovely pink colour like this.

8. Spoon the mixture into muffin cases so that they are about half full.

9. Cook near the top of a preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes at 160 degrees.

10. Allow to cool fully before removing from  the muffin tin.

The recipe makes 12 Muffins which are only 202 calories each.

Simmering the cranberries with the honey and orange juice first removes any tartness and the banana helps to add to the sweetness. These make a lovely festive treat and would even be good as breakfast Muffins on Christmas morning.

Let me know if you try making these and look out on the blog for another festive recipe in the new few days. Speak to you soon



Love Erica xxx