My mother always said, “if you have a good recipe, why play around with it?!”
Most of the time I don’t heed that advice. I tinker here and there, always reaching for some new way to prepare some dish or other.
But there are a few classics I don’t change, or, if I do, find myself coming back to the original because it can’t be surpassed.
This is one of those classic recipes. Nothing innovative. Plain old plain old.
Fabulous.
Cranberry Orange muffins. Breakfast, brunch or dinner. Dairy or parve. Freezable. Why play around with it?
Cranberry Orange Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated fresh orange peel
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter, margarine or solid coconut oil, cut into chunks
1 large egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh cranberries
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 10 muffin tins. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange peel and cinnamon together into a bowl. Add the butter chunks and work into the dry ingredients with your fingers or a pastry blender. If you use an electric mixer, set it at low-medium speed. In a second bowl, beat the egg and orange juice together until well blended. Add to the flour mixture and stir to blend ingredients. Fold in the cranberries. Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centers come out clean.
Makes 10