Quick Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins

As I was making this recipe, I noticed it uses baking soda as a leavening agent, and thought back to the reviews that said their muffins didn't rise. I looked at the last muffin recipe I had made and it used baking powder. I had thought that baking soda requires an acid in order to rise, and some quick internet research confirmed this. Since, like many other commenters, I was using a full can of pumpkin to reduce waste, I didn't want to risk these being overly dense so I added a couple squeezes of orange juice from the orange I had zested. The muffins rose well and ended up nice and fluffy. I think this might explain why there are many successful reviews that used apple sauce, apple cider, or macerated/boiled cranberries: these all add acid to the batter which otherwise does not have any acidic ingredients. In the future I'd be interested to try it both ways side-by-side and see how much of a difference the orange juice made. Other changes I made based on reviews: replaced 1/2 cup of white flour with whole wheat and reduced oil to 1/4 cup. I also only have a large 1-cup muffin tin. This recipe made 8 large muffins, and next time I will probably add more batter to each cup to result in 6 taller muffins.

As I was making this recipe, I noticed it uses baking soda as a leavening agent, and thought back to the reviews that said their muffins didn't rise. I looked at the last muffin recipe I had made and it used baking powder. I had thought that baking soda requires an acid in order to rise, and some quick internet research confirmed this. Since, like many other commenters, I was using a full can of pumpkin to reduce waste, I didn't want to risk these being overly dense so I added a couple squeezes of orange juice from the orange I had zested. The muffins rose well and ended up nice and fluffy. I think this might explain why there are many successful reviews that used apple sauce, apple cider, or macerated/boiled cranberries: these all add acid to the batter which otherwise does not have any acidic ingredients. In the future I'd be interested to try it both ways side-by-side and see how much of a difference the orange juice made. Other changes I made based on reviews: replaced 1/2 cup of white flour with whole wheat and reduced oil to 1/4 cup. I also only have a large 1-cup muffin tin. This recipe made 8 large muffins, and next time I will probably add more batter to each cup to result in 6 taller muffins.

Excellent recipe. Family loved them.

Absolutely delicious! I make muffins to send home with my boyfriend every week and so far these were his favorite too. Moist, sweet, and tart, with just enough spice. my new autumn favorite!

Loving the idea of a cranberry swirl in my muffins, I used the simple syrup idea, putting about 1/4 C sugar (I used this amount from the sugar called for in the recipe) in a small saucepan with the cranberries and a small amount of water. I let it heat up until I had been hearing the berries burst open for about a minute and set it aside until ready to fold them into the batter. I didn't have any oranges, but did have some clementines, so I zested two of them. It seems to have worked just as well as orange zest would have. The hint of citrus flavor was a wonderful surprise to my taste buds. Another touch I added was a pinch of sugar on the tops of each muffin (some before I baked them, some after baking and still hot, for variety). The muffins were delicious, and using a large Pampered Chef scoop to portion the dough, I got 23 muffins. I would have had enough for 24, scraping the sides, but there wouldn't have been any cranberry in it, so I decided to "taste" that batter once I'd put the muffins into the oven. I will definitely make these again!

These muffins have great flavors...you can taste the pumpkin, orange, and cranberries in each bite. I didn't have fresh cranberries, so I used chopped dried cranberries and it came out great (~1/2 cup dried cranberries for the full batch should be enough). Also, I cut the recipe in half, but it only made 10 muffins; next time I'll make the full batch, and perhaps also add chopped walnuts.