Cranberry Orange Muffins

Today is International Woman’s Day. It is an official holiday in Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Macedonia (for women only), Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal (for women only), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.

Unfortunately, Malaysia does not declare this as an official holiday. Anyway, today we deserve to do what we want and take a good rest.

After a long fighting with my fever, finally I have recovered 80% i.e. no more fever but cough and flu still remain.

Anyway, I decided to bake all my lady friends’ lovely muffins as a gift for the day. Hopefully, they will like it.

Recipe adapted from Food 4 Tots

Baking Temperature: 175C

Baking Time: 20-30 minutes

Yield: 24 muffins (38 x 30mm)

Ingredients: 

250g   Superfine Flour

3 tsp   Baking Powder

1 tsp   Salt

120g   Castor Sugar

2        Eggs (at room temperature, then lightly beaten)

4 tbsp Fresh Orange Juice

2 tsp  Orange Zest

180ml Sunflower Oil

1 tsp  Vanilla Extract

160g   Plain Yoghurt

100g   Dried Cranberries 

Methods: 

1. Put the dried cranberries in a plastic bag. Pour drinking water inside the bag and immediately pour it out. Retaining a little bit of water inside. Leave the plastic bag overnight at room temperature. Pat dry any excess water before use it. 
2. In a mixing bowl, sieve flour and baking powder. Add in sugar and salt. Mix well. Set aside. 
3. In another bowl, whisk together the lightly beaten eggs, oil, yoghurt, vanilla extract, orange juice and orange zest until it becomes creamer. it will be a bit cuddled. DO NOT over-beat the mixture.  
4. Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients by using spatula until they are well combined and no traces of flour. 
5. Stir in cranberries and mix well. 
6. Do not over-mix the batter. The batter should be thick ("spoonable" not "pourable").
7. Spoon the batter into muffin cups or you can use piping bag to put the batter until 80% full. 
8. Bake at 175C for 30 minutes. (This is the temperature and time for my muffins. Different oven might have vary temperature and time).