On Christmas Eve, I set out to have the best baking day ever! I ended up baking for about 4 hours, delivering Christmas presents to my staff, visiting Devin, introducing Ali and Bull (Devin’s new bulldog!), baking for a few more hours, and doing a quick elliptical workout all in one day! Wow! Then, I got ready and went to Devin’s family’s Annual Christmas Eve Bash. It was an amazing day!

<—Working out-Ready to party! —>

Check out this guy and how adorable he is!:

One amazing result of my baking that day was my Cranberry Orange muffins. The biggest pain in the butt about these was zesting enough oranges to get two teaspoons of zest. Turns out zest made a huge difference in how the flavor turned out. Just the smell of orange as they came out of the oven was unbelievable!

 

I made some healthy substitutions for these babies. One of which was using the Splenda sugar blend instead of regular sugar. It cuts the calories from sugar in half, and still tastes amazing. I also used freshly juiced oranges by using my juicer. You definitely don’t have to do this, but I like to take advantage of it whenever I can. I used applesauce instead of oil, as well.

Here’s how to make them:

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup Splenda sugar blend

1.5 tea baking powder’

1 tea salt

1/2 tea baking soda

2 tea orange zest

3/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup applesauce

2 egg whites

1 cup dried cranberries (2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped can be used also)

1/3 cup toasted chopped walnuts

1 tbsp Splenda brown sugar blend (or brown sugar)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake papers and spray with cooking spray (I used one with flour in it)

2. In large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer bowl.)

3.In large measuring cup,mix together orange zest, juice, egg whites, and applesauce. Make indentation in the powdered ingredients, then pour in mixture and mix until just combined.

4. Gently fold in the cranberries and walnuts until evenly distributed.

5. Divide batter evenly into the greased muffin cups. sprinkle each with a pinch or two of Splenda brown sugar blend, or just regular brown sugar. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven, remove from muffin tin, and place muffins on wire rack to cool.

These muffins are excellent! The flavor is so forward and pungent! There’s no question you are eating a Cranberry Orange muffin! The touch of brown sugar gives it a naughty tasting, but surprisingly not that bad for you, bonus.

I am planning on making them again very soon, I think it would be awesome to throw some fresh raspberries in them instead of cranberries just to change it up a little bit. If I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out!

What are your favorite muffins to make?

Do you prefer to make healthy ones to grab for breakfast on your way out the door like I do?

Do you make your own coffee from home or get it at a gas station/Starbucks in the AM?

Happy Trails!

Stacey