Orange Cranberry Muffins

This is a really good festive recipe for the holiday season when fresh cranberries are available. You can use rehydrated dried cranberries if you want. But, really, why would you? I suggest that you just best to wait until fresh cranberries are available to make these. Fresh cranberries are just so tangy and delicious, and urban legend has it that they are packed with Vitamin C, although I haven't actually taken the time to verify this because, ultimately, I eat them for the delicious flavor, not for the nutrients. This recipe makes about 9 muffins, or you can pour the batter into a load pan to make sweet cranberry orange loaf cake. If you like, when the recipe is out of the oven and cooled, you can dust it with powdered sugar. These are a big hit, and are quite sweet but are sufficiently healthy-tasting that they can reasonably be served for breakfast. 

3/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cup flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

 Zest of a large orange

1 1/2 C fresh cranberries

Rinse and the cranberries and slice them into halves. Mix wet ingredients together, then slowly add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Finally, fold in the cranberries and decant the batter into a greased muffin or loaf pan. Cook at 350 degrees for 18 minutes if making muffins. For a loaf, cook for 45 minutes.