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Cranberry Upside Down Muffins

adapted from From a Baker’s Kitchen by Gail Sher ^[1]

Breakfast, Dessert | Servings: 12
Prep time: 25 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 45 min

Ingredients

Cranberry Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (thawed)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp. orange juice or water
• 1 tbsp. grated orange zest (you can omit this if you don’t have any)

Muffin Batter:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla*
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

* Next time I am going to try this with 1/2 tsp. vanilla + 1/2 tsp. orange extract. I haven’t tried it though, so I’m not sure how it will turn out! Update: A reader ^[2] tried this and said it was good!

Process

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F). Place rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan really well with butter or cooking spray.
2. Place the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries start to pop open, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly while you make the batter.
3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the the microwave and set aside to cool.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
5. In a separate bowl, stir together the milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter.
6. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the milk mixture. With a wooden spoon or spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients over and stir just until combined. These muffins will be too tough if you over mix, so be very careful! A good rule of thumb for muffins is to make sure to stir less than 20 times.
7. Evenly divide the cranberry sauce among the 12 muffins cups and then spoon the batter over the cranberry sauce. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes, and then invert them onto a the rack so the the cranberry topping is face up.

Store in an air tight container or they will dry out.