Cranberry almond muffins

Hania came back from school yesterday and was disappointed there where no muffins nor cake. But she'll be happy today. I'm already!

The muffins look and taste great. I'm swallowing one right now, with the laptop on my lap, tee on the table and RaiUno on tv. Kitchen all cleaned up. Home alone.

So, back to my muffins...pretty, tasty and easy.

The muffins are really happy to get some color. And cranberries is my new discovery. I already put some in the freezer. The secret of cranberries is that they don't fall apart, just a bit, and they keep their color. In fact, the color gets deeper when baked. So there are defined red spot in the dough. It almost looks fake.

The taste is really pleasant. The dough is sweet but the cranberries are not. There are 2 cups of them in the muffins, so that gives a good balance between sweet and tart. It also keeps the dessert moist and interesting. The top of the muffins has a crispy sort of skin, very appetizing. Mine actually look better than in the original recipe.

Mrs. Stewart classified them as "health muffins".  I made them even more so. I mixed whole wheat flour with the regular one.

Mrs. Stewart had millet in her recipe. I don't remember when I saw millet last time. So I added almond flour instead, I had just enough in my drawer.

Otherwise, they are easy and fast to make leaving not too much mess in the kitchen.

So, take your butter out of the fridge now... and think about it.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

2 cups (300 g) flour (I used half regular, half whole wheat) + 2 Tablespoons
1 1/2 (6 g) teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon (8 g) salt
1/2 cup (75 g) almond mill
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 stick (120 g) butter room temperature
1 1/4  cups (250 g) sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).

Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (in the big mixer), beat butter and sugar for about 3 min until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at the time and vanilla.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and almond mill.

Coat the cranberries with the 2 tablespoons flour.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Pour in the milk. Combine it all well without overdoing it. Turn the mixer off, fold in the cranberries.

Using two tablespoons (or an ice cream spoon), transfer the dough to your muffin liners already in the baking form, up to the top. This will make you 12 handsome muffins. Put them in the hot oven for about 35 min until the toothpick comes out clean. Make sure and turn the form in the oven half way through to ensure even baking.

Take the muffins out. Let them cool on a cooling rack in the form for 10 min.