Cranberry Streusel Muffins

Cranberry Streusel Muffins are wonderful breakfast recipe with the perfect balance of flavors with tartness from fresh cranberries, moist buttermilk batter and sweet cinnamon pecans streusel.

Buttermilk Cranberry Muffins

These amazingly moist and super flavorful Cranberry Streusel Muffins were born from my beloved Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake recipe. I needed to make something for our local library’s bake sale and I racked my brain with what was one of my favorite recipes. That Coffee Cake recipe is at the top of the list!

I didn’t think coffee cake would go over as well as muffins would at a bake sale, especially seeing you can’t divide it up into smaller plates to sell very well. It also wasn’t rhubarb season sadly. Cranberries have a very similar tartness to rhubarb though, so I thought they would be the perfect fruit for these buttermilk muffins.

• Rhubarb Streusel Coffee Cake

How to Make Fresh Cranberry Muffins

This delicious muffin recipe starts out with a simple buttermilk, brown sugar, shortening and vanilla batter. I know, I know, everyone likes to hate on shortening, but at the end of the day it does create a lighter crumb for cake batters like this.

Fresh cranberries are folded in, but if you only have frozen they will work as well. Just be sure to thaw them and pat them dry before folding into the batter.

Cinnamon Pecan Streusel Topping

The finishing touch that really makes these cranberry muffins shine is the easy streusel made of granulated sugar, finely chopped pecans and cinnamon. I recommend using a food processor or nut chopper to get them nice and fine for this particular recipe.

Just mix the streusel topping together so it is well combined and spoon it on top of each muffin. While it bakes, the sugar will caramelize some and the nuts will toast nicely.

It not only adds a nice crunch to the top of the muffin, but a great sweetness to balance out the cranberries as well. I don’t recommend skipping the streusel or you will have overly tart muffins.

More amazing fresh cranberry recipes!

• Cranberry Orange Custard Pie
• Spicy Cranberry Salsa
• Cranberry Goat Cheese Appetizers
• Pressure Cooker Cranberry Balsamic Pork Loin

Notes

If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice plus enough milk to measure 1 cup as a substitute.

Serving: 1 g | Calories: 169 kcal | Carbohydrates: 27 g | Protein: 2 g | Fat: 6 g | Saturated Fat: 3 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3 g | Cholesterol: 19 mg | Sodium: 158 mg | Fiber: 1 g | Sugar: 18 g