How to Start a Saturday

While you were busy making Farmer Flapjacks this morning - or your bowl of cereal, or whatever - I was making cranberry muffins.  Saturdays start a whole lot better with a fresh-from-the-oven muffin or two.  You may have noticed that cranberries are on sale right now - at my local Kroger, they were $1.00 a bag just a couple of days ago.  They are leftover from the holidays but that doesn't hurt cranberries too much, they store well in the refrigerator for weeks.  Or frozen, for as long as you like.  No preparation needed, just pop them in the freezer.
  
Cranberry - Sour Cream Muffins 

This recipe makes 12 muffins.  I pulled out my often-used stoneware muffin pan because I love the way it bakes a hearty muffin like these.  I've found any stoneware baking equipment definitely worth its (fairly heavy!) weight. Line with paper baking cups.  The streusel centers of these may make them stick without the paper liners, and you don't want them falling apart on the way out of the pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together 8 oz. sour cream (one of the small containers) with 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup oil, and 1 egg.  Mix until well blended.  You can substitute yogurt for the sour cream.  This recipe might work well with an applesauce-for-oil substitution, too, if you are prone to do that. I haven't tried it.  I love oil-based calories.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir til combined.  Fold in 1 cup cranberries (fresh) or 3/4 cup dried.  Batter's done, but you're not..

In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans.  I use cinnamon because I buy it in bulk from the Amish Country Store and always have it on hand.  And for this small amount of pecans, I just break them between my fingers.  That gives a nice chunky effect.

There's a streusel layer in these muffins, so fill the muffin cups halfway with the batter.  Sprinkle about 1/2 of the nut mixture over the half full cups. 

 

Top with the remaining batter and the remaining nut mixture.  

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes. You'll know by the smell when they're almost there; test with a toothpick to be sure they are done - they'll turn from a-little-too-pale to golden brown.

 

Yum-a-licious. 


Today, my tea of choice was Darjeeling Puttabong Summer tea from Adagio - a fresh, light choice with this muffin.  (My tea habit will be explored another day.  It's a little extreme.)

We're off to a Mexican restaurant tonight.  Check out our local-restaurant review tomorrow!