Cranberry-orange almond flour muffin recipe
Even though Thanksgiving is passed, I am not letting go of cranberries just yet. I’m not letting go of winter squashes, pears or apples either for that matter. And I might just make some pumpkin pancakes tomorrow morning if I feel like it. I am not yet tired of all those fall flavors, nevermind that winter is knocking at the door.
I made these cranberry-orange muffins on a whim the other day and just had to share. Even though my family and I are not technically gluten-intolerant, gluten is something I mindful about limiting because it is quite pro-inflammatory and hard to digest and something that can be overeaten very easily. So every now and again when I want to bake something, I play around with gluten-free flours based on grains like rice or millet (if you haven’t tried these Millet Blondies, you must!), or to go grain-free I love using almond flour and coconut flour. There’s not one flour that mimics wheat perfectly, but there are ways to achieve a similar result. One of my kids’ favorite muffins is this recipe for Chocolate-Banana-Almond Muffins with Chia Seeds. That recipe uses all almond flour and has a very nice light, moist interior and such a yummy flavor. I otherwise don’t love using all almond flour in baking since things can get a little heavy. And you have to be sure to use almond flour and not almond meal. Almond flour is very fine and almost powdery. Almond meal is a little coarser which isn’t as desirable when you’re baking a muffin.
One of my new favorite combinations is using almond flour with a little coconut flour mixed in. The result is just a little lighter and chewier than with all almond flour. It’s still not exactly like wheat or spelt flour, but it’s close enough and my kids love muffins I make this way, including these cranberry-orange beauties. These muffins are just sweet enough, in my opinion, with a hint of orange. My family doesn’t love an overwhelming orange flavor, so the zest of 1 orange was perfect for us. But my favorite part is biting into a tart cranberry. I love contrasts in textures and flavors, so the tart and sweet always gets me! I remember making cranberry-orange quick bread when I was little girl. One of the reasons I’ll never forget it is because I completely screwed up the recipe the first time by mistaking baking powder for baking soda and things didn’t rise the way they were supposed to. Live and learn. Even though it was as dense as a brick, the flavors were still so good and we ate the whole thing anyway!
You can still find fresh cranberries in the markets and they also freeze beautifully if you would like to stock up and make cranberry-based recipes in the future. I think these are great for lunch boxes or for a chilly afternoon with a cup of tea, but I also would love them on Christmas morning, which is two and a half weeks away!! Loved being with you today, but it’s time for me to make like an elf and get back to business. Until next time!
Cranberry-Orange Almond Flour Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour I use Honeyville
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- grated zest of 1 orange
- 6 large eggs or 4 eggs and 2 “flax eggs”*
- ½ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- a heaping cup of fresh cranberries
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter or unrefined coconut oil melted
- 2 Tablespoons sliced almonds optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with 9 unbleached parchment liners.
- Place the 2 cups of almond flour in a large mixing bowl. Remove 2 Tablespoons and transfer it to a small bowl and set aside. Add the coconut flour, baking soda, salt and orange zest to the large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- In a blender, add the eggs, honey, vanilla and vinegar. Blend until well combined.
- Pour the egg mixture into the large bowl and combine well. Fold in the cranberries.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup to the top. I use an ice cream scooper to do this. Lightly brush the tops of each muffin with butter and sprinkle with the reserved almond flour and (optional) sliced almonds.
- Bake until lightly golden and when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
Notes
34 Comments
Hi, what can I use to substitute the vinegar? I only have distilled white vinegar.
that will work!
how many carbs calories fat and sodium mg or grsms are in these for one muffin
Sorry, I haven’t calculated calorie count. My blogger friends all refer their readers to My Fitness Pal for calculating calories and macros. Hope that helps.
I don’t have flax seed to make the flax egg, what substitute would you use?
You can try making a chia egg in place of the two flax eggs by combining 2 Tablespoons of chia seeds with 6 Tablespoons of water. Let it sit for a couple minutes until it thickens. Another option is to use 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce or silken tofu.
I recently made these and subbed blueberries and lemon zest and they were wonderful!
Absolutely fabulous! I made these today and they came out moist and delicious. The only thing I changed was 1/4 white flour because I didn’t have coconut flour. I also added more sliced almonds as toppings. I used frozen cranberries- I never have fresh on hand. Fantastic recipe. Thanks!
Great swaps and so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Could you use dried cranberries in place of fresh? My 3-year-old son REALLY wants to make “orange muffins” but I don’t have the fresh (or frozen) cranberries!!!
of course!
These muffins are awesome! My family loves them, and I love that they are healthy for us.
Feel free to play around with the flavors (lemon and blueberries are awesome!) Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
I have left over cranberry sauce from the holidays. How can I tweak this recipe to use up the sauce instead of adding the cranberries? I always have too much leftover and don’t won’t it to go to waste. Saw some other recipes that did this, but always like your healthy versions best. Just wanted your opinion. Thanks.
Well thank you for the compliment! I have made muffins with jam swirled in, so I imagine this would be the same. You can add some cranberry sauce to the batter and gently fold it in. Or you can fill the muffin cups halfway with batter and dollop the center with cranberry sauce, then cover with batter.
Unfortunately, not impressed. Left out honey and replaced with 1 can of whole cranberry jelly. Pulled out the cranberries and but in half and mixed rest with the blended mixture. Added chia seeds. Not very sweet, rather bland
I’ll be honest, those substitutions really change the recipe a lot. Consider trying the recipe again but with the proportions suggested here. It’s a great basic grain-free muffin recipe. 🙂
Does anyone know the nutrional info for 1 serving?
Thanks. 🙂
Woke up early this morning in need of a baked good for a picnic ! Made these in less than 10 min. I didn’t have cranberries so I substituted fresh blueberries and added a few flax and chia seeds in the batter, absolutely fantastic ! Thank you for the recipe !
Could you give me a calorie count for one of these muffins, thank you.
Hi Carol, I don’t provide the calories for the recipes, but there are many online calorie counters that you can try. 🙂
Can I substitute cranberries with frozen organic berries?
Sure!
Hi Pamela,
Where do you buy your almond flour? I’ve found almond meal in my local grocery store but almond flour is harder to find. This may be a silly question, but do you know if you can make almond flour out of almond meal by processing it more in a high powered blender or food processor?
You really need to use almond flour for a recipe like this. I buy mine directly from honeyvillegrain.com. They often have 10% or 15% off deals if you’re patient. Otherwise the only other good brand that I have tried is by Digestive Wellness and you can buy their almond flour on amazon. You can make your own almond meal, but I don’t think you can get it fine enough to be a flour.
I made your recipe twice in one week as the first batch was enjoyed by many in just 2 days Absolutely delicious! I used Canadian maple syrup instead of honey. Flavour was so good. The batter was enough to make one dozen muffins instead of nine. Thank you for my new favourite muffin recipe!!!!!
Wow! That’s amazing. Glad everyone enjoyed them 🙂
Would you use the almond flour for cakes as well? Thanks!
You can definitely make an almond flour cake, but you need to know that almond flour and wheat flour are not interchangeable. Almond flour has no gluten, but does have a lot of fat for starters, so you need to make significant adjustments to your recipe if you want to change it from wheat to almond. You should check out elanaspantry.com. I think she is like the pioneer of using almond flour. You will start to get a sense of how to use it and she has a ton of recipes!
Thank you, Pamela. I appreciate how you always respond so quickly. We are having your slow cooker bbq shredded chicken tonight 🙂
My pleasure, Ginny. Slow cooker BBQ shredded chicken is a favorite in our house! Enjoy!
Do I have to use coconut flour or can I just use almond flour? I dont have any coconut flour right now but have all the other ingredients!
The coconut flour really helps lighten the almond flour and it’s so much better with it than all almond flour. The muffins will still turn out with just almond flour, but they’re a little denser and heavier.
Thank you!!