Tart cranberries and gooey chocolate chips are a match made in heaven in these soft and fluffy muffins.—A simple cream cheese glaze dresses them up to perfection!
The fall muffin sequel to these awesome ‘thangs.
Except these ones swap out the summery strawberries for cranberries and get covered to perfection with glaze.
Yep. I’m kinda ‘lovin the sequel, guys.—#2 all the way. 😀
If you guys have tried these muffins before, you would probably know that we’re dealing with the EPITOME of fluffy and soft textures, perfect-o size (huge, of course) and 100% addicting properties.
All this in one muffin. Yes, I know. Deep, huh?
No shame in wanting/attempting to eat the entire batch of these babies. I kinda tried to do the same thing. Except I was intercepted by my family who had the audacity to want to try them too.
I mean, really?! How dare they.
MY muffins. All mine.
You lay a finger on ’em and I am not responsible for my actions.
Goodness, I am in a feisty mood today….Meow.
These muffins must be bringing out the crazy in me. They are TOTALLY my new fav thing in the world. Right after warm hugs, that is…
Hi, I’m Olaf. And I like warm hugs.
And warm muffins full of juicy-tart cranberries and gooey chocolate chips and lotsa’ glaze.
So cranberries. Love ’em or hate ’em? From what I’ve seen most people either love them with a passion or hate them with every fiber of their being.
Me? I’m a lover, not a hater. Also, I love pretty much every food. You should know that by now.
So into the muffin batter those sour little berries went along with chocolate chips, because hey, the cranberry’s tart flavors OBV needed balancing.
And chocolate pretty much just balances out anything and everything. #fact.
So does cream cheese glaze so it’s kinda a no-brainer to what happens next…
Ahhh…glaze, why must you be so spoon-worthy?
But I shall resist. Because as much as I love you glaze, these muffins deserve you more than I do.
I’ll still lick the bowl, though. Because that’s just a fundamental rule.
So you see that tiny and totally ADORBS polka-dotted spoon I’m using to drizzle on the glaze? There’s kindaaaa an amusing story behind that one. Grab a cup of coffee and listen to this.
My 13-year old sister Ruthie has started collecting a lot of little trinkets and some of her stuff is actually pretty cool. The other day when she walked through the door with shopping bags full of more junk treasures, I couldn’t help but notice the said spoon.
So I graciously asked Ruthie if I could borrow the spoon for a muffin photoshoot. Reasonable right? Her reply was, and I quote, “Okay, but that will be 25 cents per hour.”
Me with my mouth hanging open said, “Forget that! Here, have a muffin.”
I tried to explain to her that muffins were more valuable than quarters anyway, but I don’t think she was buying it.
Oy. My sister the saleswomen.
It worked though, and I had full use of the spoon for a full hour and all I had to give up was one of these muffins.
Pretty steep price though, all things considering….
But you? You don’t have to share these muffins with ANYONE. And I guarantee you certainly won’t want to. 😉
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- MUFFINS:
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup xylitol or sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup halved fresh cranberries
- GLAZE:
- 2 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/4 cup xylitol or sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Prepare the muffins: Preheat oven to 425F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking power, and salt. In a separate large bowl, whisk eggs, xylitol (or sugar) oil, sour cream, vanilla, and milk. Add flour mixture to liquid, gently folding until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and cranberries.
- Fill muffin cups to brim with muffin batter and smooth tops. Bake at 425F 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 375F and continue baking an additional 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick tests done. Cool muffins completely on a wire cooling rack.
- Prepare the glaze: Place cream cheese and xylitol (or sugar) in a small bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat on medium speed until smooth. Beat in vanilla and just enough milk to achieve a drizzling consistency.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled muffins and serve.
Jessica says
These look great and will definitely be making them for Valentines day Sunday! Quick question, can I use regular flour instead of whole wheat?
Sarah says
Hi Jessica! Regular flour will work, but you may need to adjust the amount slightly. Just make sure the batter is fairly thick. Let me know how they turn out!