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    Home / Recipes / Donuts, Breads & Muffins

    Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins

    Feb 20, 2023 · Updated: Jan 30, 2024 by Dee Dine · Affliate links disclosure.

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    Healthy cranberry orange muffins

    Healthy cranberry orange muffins with a lovely sugar crumb topping, dairy free, no eggs or oil, and a bright citrus flavor made in one bowl in under 30 minutes, a delicious soft muffin perfect for breakfast or brunch celebration!

    cranberry orange muffins with a spoon drizzling a glaze



    Healthy cranberry orange muffins are easy to make, and are fine for all diets, soft and delicious, and also dairy-free, vegan and high in fiber. They have a gentle dome muffin-top and a sugary crumb on top, just enough sweet to make it a dessert while still keeping the healthy. Like my chocolate frosted donuts with sprinkles, my healthy chocolate chip muffins with oats or my Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins, they make a wonderful breakfast treat. Wash them down with my refreshing strawberry smoothie or my light and foamy banana milk.

    Jump to:
    • Ingredients
    • Substitutions
    • Step by Step Instructions
    • Recipe Tips
    • FAQS
    • Muffin & Donut Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    Ingredients

    cranberry orange muffins ingredients.

    Flour - Use all-purpose flour or 1 to 1 gluten-free baking flour or oat flour. If using oat flour, double the amount of flour - so 2 cups instead of 1 cup, and double the orange juice, so ½ cup instead of ¼ cup. That's because oat flour absorbs more liquid than other flours do.

    Sugar - Use organic cane sugar if you can. It tastes better.

    Butter - Use regular unsalted butter, or vegan butter for a vegan or dairy-free diet.

    Applesauce - Use unsweetened.

    Cranberries - You can use either fresh or frozen cranberries in this recipe. If you use frozen, the muffin will have pink streaks because of the wetness of the frozen berries. You can minimize this by tossing the cranberries in flour before folding them into the batter. Specifically, rinse the frozen berries, pat dry, and then toss them in flour - whichever flour you are using in the recipe.

    Orange Juice - Instead of using milk as in most muffin recipes, I use orange juice. Use not-from-concentrate OJ or squeeze fresh oranges.

    See the recipe card at the bottom for full information on ingredients and quantities.

    Substitutions

    Butter. Use yogurt. The texture will be lighter.

    Applesauce. Or use aquafaba - the liquid from a can of chickpeas to replace eggs. 

    Step by Step Instructions

    For more detail, visit the complete and printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here are general steps.

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    1.Preheat the oven at 400 F. (You will lower it when you put in muffins.)

    2. Next, make the crumble top first and freeze it while you make the muffin batter.

    3. Finally, make the muffin batter in one bowl. Cream the butter and sugar, then add other wet ingredients and mix up the batter. Then add the dry ingredients.

    creamed butter and sugar in a bowl.

    4. Toss the cranberries - fresh or frozen - in flour.

    cranberry orange muffin batter in muffin cups.

    Then fold those berries into the batter. The flour keeps them dispersed evenly in the batter and prevents them from turning gooey and the batter pink.

    streusel on muffin batter in muffin cups.

    Fill the cupcake wells at least ⅔ of the way, pack on the topping and put them in that hot oven then lower the oven to 350 F and bake for 25 minutes.

    baked cranberry orange muffin with a bite on a dish.

    Recipe Tips

    1. Toss the cranberries in flour before putting them into the batter. I didn't slice mine in half, but you can if you want to. It might make your cake a bit pinker even with flouring the berries.

    2. Make your crumble top first and put it in the freezer while you make muffin batter. If you want to set it aside for longer than half an hour, don't freeze, just refrigerate.

    3. For the topping, be sure your butter is chilled, not softened, certainly not melted.

    4. Fill your muffin wells nearly to the top and then add your crumb. To be sure your muffin tops don't stick to the pan, be sure to grease the TOP of the pan.

    FAQS

    Do you have to cook cranberries before baking?

    No, you don't have to cook cranberries before baking.

    Can you use frozen cranberries in cranberry muffins?

    Yes, you can use frozen cranberries in cranberry muffins, just be sure to toss them in flour so they don't bleed too much and discolor the muffin.

    Can you substitute dried cranberries for fresh in muffins?

    No, you can not use dried cranberries when baking muffins, but you can use them in cookies.

    How much sugar is in a cranberry orange muffin?

    My cranberry orange muffins have only 13 grams of sugar per muffin, which is much lower than the classic version which has closer to 40 grams of sugar per muffin.

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    If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

    📖 Recipe

    cranberry orange muffins with a spoon drizzling a glaze

    Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins

    Created by Dee Dine
    Healthy cranberry orange muffins with a lovely sugar crumb topping, dairy free, no eggs or oil, and a bright citrus flavor made in one bowl in under 30 minutes, a delicious soft muffin perfect for breakfast or brunch celebration!
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved! Rate Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time 30 minutes mins
    Total Time 40 minutes mins
    Course Breakfast, Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 6
    Calories 228 kcal

    Ingredients
     
     

    Muffin

    • 1 ⅔ cups oat flour or use 1 cup all purpose flour or gluten-free baking flour.
    • ¼ cup butter softened or room temperature
    • ⅔ cups organic cane sugar
    • 3 tablespoon applesauce, unsweetened
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • pinch of salt
    • 2 teaspoon baking powder
    • ¼ cup orange juice
    • 1 tablespoon orange zest
    • ¾ cup fresh cranberries

    Sugar Crumb Top

    • ½ cup oat flour or all purpose flour or gluten-free baking flour.
    • ½ cup organic cane sugar
    • 3 tablespoon butter softened
    • 1 teaspoon orange zest
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    Instructions
     

    Prep

    • Preheat oven to 375 F.
    • Grease the top surface of the 6-well cupcake pan (so muffin tops don't stick). Then line the cupcake pan with paper liners.
    • Toss the cranberries in flour and set aside.

    Make Sugar Crumb Top

    • Make the top first and freeze while you make muffins
    • To do this, use a fork to mix the flour, sugar, butter and zest together into a crumbly mixture. Don't thoroughly cream it up. Instead, let chunks of flour and butter be visible. Add in the hemp hearts and zest.
      ½ cup oat flour, ½ cup organic cane sugar, 3 tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon orange zest
    • Put bowl in the freezer (or refrigerator for more than half hour) while you mix up muffins.

    Make Muffins

    • In one large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until combined.
      ¼ cup butter, ⅔ cups organic cane sugar
    • Add in the applesauce, vanilla, orange juice and zest.
      3 tablespoon applesauce, unsweetened, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ cup orange juice, 1 tablespoon orange zest
    • Sift in flour, salt, baking powder.
      1 ⅔ cups oat flour, pinch of salt, 2 teaspoon baking powder
    • Mix this mixture until combined.
    • Fold floured cranberries into batter as well.
      ¾ cup fresh cranberries
    • Fill each cupcake well with batter nearly to the top.
    • Sprinkle and lightly pack on the sugar crumb topping.
    • Put the pan in the oven, and lower heat to 350 F. Bake at 350 F for only 20 minutes.

    Storage

    • Store the muffins in a sealed container for 24 hours at room temperature if you want. The tops begin to moisten however. So within a day, put them in the refrigerator for a week or longer frozen.

    Video

    Notes

    1. Toss the cranberries in flour before putting them into the batter. I didn't slice mine in half, but you can if you want to. It might make your cake a bit pinker even with flouring the berries.
    2. Make your crumble top first and put it in the freezer while you make muffin batter. If you want to set it aside for longer than half an hour, don't freeze, just refrigerate.
    3. For the topping, be sure your butter is chilled, not softened, certainly not melted.
    4. Fill your muffin wells nearly to the top and then add your crumb. To be sure your muffin tops don't stick to the pan, be sure to grease the TOP of the pan.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 228kcalCarbohydrates: 41gProtein: 5gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 70mgPotassium: 209mgFiber: 1gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 236IUVitamin C: 3mgCalcium: 78mgIron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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    Healthy cranberry orange muffins
    dee dine

    My name is Dee Dine and I’m a two-time cookbook author and certified nutritionist. Here you’ll find easy, healthy recipes made with few ingredients and always egg free, dairy free, & gluten free. About Dee →

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