Extraordinarily soft, fluffy muffins with pockets of tangy cranberry, sweet white chocolate and a divine drizzle of rich white chocolate glaze, these cranberry white chocolate muffins are the perfect accompaniment to your breakfast or brunch.
It would appear that I am two steps behind (or two steps ahead, depending on how you look at it) the seasonal-foods trend. Between my sweet potato recipe last week and now cranberries today, my palate has, for some reason, been in fall-flavors mode (though I can assure you my mind is nowhere near that season… were it up to me summer would reign forever).
I couldn’t help it, though. I bought frozen cranberries on a whim after finding them steeply discounted at my grocery store and have been toying with different ideas on how to use them for several weeks now. While I wasn’t planning on eating cranberry sauce all week, I did not expect upon buying them that they would find their home inside muffins, but here we are.
And, suddenly, every other idea I’d had for using them was clearly unsatisfactory. These muffins are utterly, irresistibly fluffy (the addition of an extra egg white and a combination of butter and oil rather than solely butter helps to make this possible), each bite packed with an array of flavors– from warm notes of vanilla to the subtle, almost indiscernible hint of almond, surprise pops of tangy cranberry coupled with sweet kernels of white chocolate strike an exquisite balance (and, of course, the glaze is likely to be half-devoured before it even makes its way to the muffin tops).
Just like when I made my banana muffins, I had to get these muffins out of my house as soon as I possibly could for fear of single-handedly eating the whole batch.
If you’re not prepared for cranberry, if you only eat strictly seasonably, I respect that. But please, please bookmark this recipe for a crisp autumnal day and you’ll be glad you did (you may also regret having waited so long to try them).
More Muffins to Try:
Enjoy!
White Chocolate Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted (55 g)
- ¼ cup canola oil (60ml), vegetable oil would also work
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
- 1 egg lightly beaten, + 1 egg white
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5ml)
- ¼ tsp almond extract (1 ml), optional
- ¾ cup buttermilk (or ¾milk + 2 ¼ tsp vinegar stirred together and allowed to sit 5 minutes), (177ml)
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (281g)
- 2 tsp baking powder (10g)
- ½ tsp salt (2.5g)
- 1 cup heaping frozen cranberries (150g)
- ½ cup white chocolate chips (85g)
Glaze
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (170g)
- ¼ cup heavy cream (59ml)
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar (83g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F (205 C) and line 12-count muffin tin with cupcake liners
- In large bowl combine melted butter, oil and granulated sugar. Stir well.
- Add lightly beaten egg, egg white, and vanilla and almond extracts. Stir well.
- Add in buttermilk and stir until combined.
- Stir in cranberries and white chocolate.
- In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- Gradually, carefully add in flour mixture, stirring until just combined (there still may be some flour mixture visible, this is OK just do not over-mix)
- Evenly divide into prepared muffin tin.
- Bake on 400F (205 C) 20-25 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out mostly clean with few crumbs)
Glaze
- In micro-wave safe bowl, combine white chocolate chips and heavy cream. Microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring every 10 seconds until chocolate is melted and heavy cream and chocolate are combined.
- Stir in powdered sugar.
- Using a spoon drizzle over muffins (muffins should be allowed to cool 5-10 minutes before being drizzled with glaze).
Nutrition
Jen
I am struggling to find frozen cranberries. Is there anything else that can be substituted? I’m thinking probably not since cranberries are kind of tart and the white chocolate probably helps to sweeten up that tartness. Just wondering what your thoughts are.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Jen! You can substitute 3/4 dried cranberries in place of the frozen. We hope you love them! 🙂
wendy
Hi..I’m going to try these muffins later as I was given a load of shaved white chocolate and always have frozen cranberries on hand…can I get away with one egg only,no white??
Also I saw cornstarch comments…why do you ad that to other recipes? Thanks.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Wendy. We haven’t tried this, but your muffins likely won’t be as fluffy or rise the same without that extra egg white. We suggest using it. Cornstarch is our favorite “secret” ingredient in baked goods. It adds structure and fluffiness without drying things out, which would happen if you used more flour instead. This recipe is one of our older ones, and we may include corn starch in the updated version when that comes out!
Moira
Hi. I found your recipe and didn’t have any fresh or frozen cranberries but I did have dried. I soaked the dried ones in hot water to plump them up and to my delight the muffins baked up lovely. These are now my husbands favorite muffins. I would like to make them with fresh cranberries and I will when I buy some. Thank you for this recipe.Delicious!!
Sam
That is so awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Moira! 🙂
Megan
Hi Sam! I was wondering if I could substitute the cranberries for raspberries and all the ingredients and measurements still work well together? Thanks in advance!
Sam
Yes, that will work, no other modifications needed! Enjoy!
Imre
Hi!
Love all your recipes, this one and the bagels especially!!! 😍💖
Could I make these as jumbo muffins? With a longer bake time?
Thank you!
Sam
Hi Imre! That will work just fine. They will definitely need to bake a little bit longer. I would imagine the bake time would be very similar to my Bakery style chocolate chip muffins. 🙂
Imre
Thank you!!! They turned out amazing🤩 23 minutes did the trick.
Sam
Wonderful, I’m so glad to hear it! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out! 🙂
Kim Baird
So amazing as are all the recipes. Hard to stop eating at 1. Fluffy, moist and delicious! Thank you!!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Kim! I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins so much! 🙂
Lyn
I’m curious why no corn starch? Just wondering why it is sometimes used (i.e. blueberry muffins) and not other times.
Sam
It sometimes depends on the recipe. This muffin recipe was developed 5 years ago, though, before I unlocked the secret of cornstarch in baking. I’m happy with this recipe as it is written, but if I update it and re-publish I may end up working some cornstarch into the batter.
Rachel
Hi there! Can I use fresh cranberries instead of frozen ones?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Rachel! Yes, that will be fine. I hope that you enjoy the muffins! 🙂
Brandy Reinecke
Can you use dryed cranberries instead of frozen ones?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Brandy! You can substitute with dried cranberries, however, I don’t recommend it. The juices from the cranberries really add a lot of flavor to the muffins. I hope that you enjoy the cranberry white chocolate muffins. 🙂
Mary
Is there baking soda missing in this recipe? Thank you.
Sam
Nope, you will not need baking soda.
Brittany
I think I did something wrong. The edges and bottom burned, but the chips didn’t melt on the inside. It also came out kind of dense. 😭
I tried the double chocolate chip and those were just wonderful.
Sam
Hi Brittany! The chocolate chips shouldn’t melt inside the cupcakes. In regards to the edges and bottom being burned, is your oven temperature accurate? It sounds like the temperature may have been a little higher than it should causing the edges to crisp up a little bit. I hope this helps. 🙂
Kira
Can these be made with dried cranberries instead?
Sam
Hi, Kira. That would work just fine. 🙂