Baking with Carla: dried cranberries crumb muffins

Yesterday I met Carla after 2 weeks without seeing her. I missed her and I wanted to bake something special with her. At the same time, it has been a rough period for my stomach and for Carla’s mom’s stomach too! So I decided that muffins with dried fruit could be a good choice for all of us. After all, we already had enough sugar with the mini baked donuts! And who says muffins are not special. These ones for sure were!

As is the case with many other recipes, what I liked of this one is the versatility. I made them with dried peaches because Carla had those at home but I have made them before with apples and also with dried peaches. Any dried fruit (and apples) really fits in here.

As some of you already know, Foodbuzz, Frigidaire and Jennifer Garner teamed up for an amazing campaign to inspire all families to cook more together through the Kid’s Cooking Academy. Each day you visit, Frigidaire will donate $1 to Save the Children. As you know, I’m a big supporter of baking with kids and of really letting them participate in the activity, so I’m loving this campaign! But in addition to this Foodbuzz and Frigidaire will donate $50 for every post submitted by a Featured Publisher. I’ve already submitted the mini baked donuts one but the more the better, so I am submitting this one too J

And now for the votes:

Carla: A

Carla’s mom: she was not there, I’ll let you know!

Me: A

Dried Cranberries Crumb Muffins

Ingredients

For the crumb topping:

32 gr (1.13 oz or ¼ cup) all-purpose flour

55 gr (1.9 oz or 1/4 cup) light brown sugar

57 gr (4 tbsp or ½ stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

5 gr (1 tsp) cinnamon

50 gr (½ cup) walnuts

2 gr (¼ tsp) salt

For the Muffins:

195 gr (6.75 oz or 1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour

7 gr (1 ½ tsp) baking soda

2 gr (½ tsp) salt

2 gr (½ tsp) cinnamon

67 gr (2.37 oz or 1/3 cup) white sugar

55 gr (1.9 oz or ¼ cup) light brown sugar

180 ml (6 fl oz or ¾ cup) buttermilk

15 ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil

1 large egg

5 ml (1 tsp) pure vanilla extract

1 cup dried peaches (or any other dried fruit; you can even use an apple instead)

Method

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees. Grease a muffin pan.

Prepare the crumb topping:

In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients with a fork. Set aside

Prepare the muffins batter:

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, the baking soda, the salt, and the cinnamon. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the sugars, the buttermilk, and the oil until well combined.

Add the egg and the vanilla extract and whisk until well incorporated.

Finally add the dry ingredients and the fruit. Mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffins pan and generously top with the crumb topping.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted will come out clean.

Let the muffins cool down on a cooling rack before trying to unmold.

Have a sweet day!