Cranberry Orange Muffins

It seems as though all I’ve been posting is muffins and bread recipes. We really do eat a whole lot of other things in this house, but it sure is rewarding to try out new recipes that are healthy snacks for the entire family.

The following recipe has that ricotta cheese in it – the whey that I promised yesterday. It also has some flax (see "Flax Facts" post). This muffin has a bit of a sweet cornbread taste, but kicks it in gear right towards the end with the cranberries. My oldest daughter took a bite and proclaimed that, “ These. Are. Good.” Then she grabbed about 3 more and ran out of the kitchen before I could catch her.

From September 200

Cranberry-Orange Muffins
adapted from Cooking Light, September 2003

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ T yellow cornmeal
1 ½ T ground flax seed
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup applesauce – unsweetened
2 tsp grated orange rind
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk
¼ cup low fat ricotta cheese
2/3 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped (I used Craisens)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together. Spoon into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray or 20 mini muffin cups. Bake at 375 for minutes for regular sized muffins, or 9-10 minutes for mini muffins – or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Stand guard and slap all the hands that try to come and steal these seriously good muffins.