New England Cranberry Muffins

This recipe comes from my childhood best friends mother. It's a famous recipe in my old neighborhood and it brings back such fond memories. It normally calls for blueberries, but my mom had the great suggestion to sub in cranberries to make it fit with Fall. But really, you can't go wrong if you want to stick with the blueberries. I decided to take it a step further also and make a little streusel topping to sprinkle on top. They turned out fabulous and I ate three right in a row. Enjoy and I hope you have a wonderful Fall weekend!

Recipe (yield 12 muffins) :

1 cup sugar

1 stick softened butter (1/2 cup)

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 heaping cup dried cranberries

Streusel Topping:

4 heaping tablespoons flour

3 heaping tablespoons sugar

2 heaping tablespoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. First off, make the streusel topping: In a small bowl, using a fork, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Make sure there are small bits of butter evenly distributed throughout the mixture. Mix in chopped walnuts and set aside.

Pour your heaping cup cranberries into a small bowl. Boil 1 cup water cup and carefully pour into small bowl with cranberries. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar, butter, eggs, and milk. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined- the mixture will look lumpy. Drain the water from the cranberries. Fold cranberries into the batter. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins (either using liners or greased).

Using a teaspoon, sprinkle streusel topping over each unbaked muffin. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

image by Briana