Cranberry Walnut Muffins Recipe

My cranberry walnut muffins recipe uses one bowl to create a quick, moist and nutty snack. It is a very simple recipe that creates muffins with a delicious balance of sweet and tart flavors.

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

This muffin recipe does not use complex steps such as halving cranberries, two different baking temperatures, zesting oranges, etc. In contrast, my recipe uses simple ingredients and steps. No point making muffins overly difficult!

Ingredients – Cranberry Walnut Muffins

• 3/4 Cup – Milk – 177 milliliters – You can use dairy milk or plain plant-based milk (such as plain oat milk or soy milk).
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil – 115 milliliters – Use a neutral flavored vegetable oil (such as corn oil).
• 2 – Large Eggs – 114 grams – Not extra large or jumbo eggs.
• 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 200 grams
• 1/2 – Teaspoon – Ground Cinnamon – 1.5 grams – This provides a very mild cinnamon flavor to compliment the cranberry & walnut flavors. However, use 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon if you prefer a stronger cinnamon flavor to your muffins. Or you can replace with 1 tablespoon of orange zest or lemon zest. See tips section below.
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 2 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams – Not bread flour.
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Powder – 4 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• 1 1/4 Cups – Cranberries (fresh or frozen) – 125 grams
• 3/4 Cup – Chopped Walnuts – 86 grams
• Optional – Sprinkle extra chopped walnuts and a couple of cranberries on top of the batter in each muffin cup for more attractive muffin tops.

Servings – Roughly 18-24 standard muffins (non jumbo).

Equipment Needed – Measuring cups & spoons, large mixing bowl, long wooden spoon, muffin trays, paper muffin liners (baking cups), oven mitts, wire cooling racks and an oven.

Batter with Optional Walnut & Cranberry Topping

Key Ingredients – Cranberries & Chopped Walnuts

Instructions – Cranberry Walnut Muffins

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).
• Lightly beat eggs.
• Stir the milk, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the remaining ingredients (except the cranberries and chopped walnuts). Stir until batter is completely mixed. FYI – I prefer to use a large wooden spoon to mix the batter. An electric mixer can overmix the batter and then the muffins can turn out rubbery & gummy.
• Gently stir in the 1 1/4 cups of cranberries and 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts into the batter.
• Place paper muffin baking cups (liners) inside the muffin trays. Or grease the interior of the muffin trays (or use cooking spray) if you are not using muffin baking cups or non-stick muffin trays.
• Add the batter to the muffin baking cups until each cup is roughly 75% full with batter. FYI – I like to use an ice scoop to fill my muffins cups. I find it easier to use than a spoon.
• Optional – Gently sprinkle some extra chopped walnuts and a couple of cranberries on top of the batter in each muffin cup. FYI – Do not press the cranberries or nuts down into the batter. Just rest them on top of the batter or they will get buried as the muffins rise during baking.
• Place the muffin trays into the oven.
• Bake the muffins for 23 to 26 minutes at 350 F (177 C).
• Remove the muffin trays from the oven. Use oven mitts when removing the muffin trays.
• Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes within the muffin trays.
• After the 5 minutes, remove the muffins from the trays and place them on a wire cooling rack in order to completely cool. This cooldown can take 30 to 60 minutes.
• Please read the tips below to avoid common muffin mistakes & to learn about different variations that you can make with these muffins.

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Helpful Tips – Cranberry Walnut Muffins

• The tips below are designed to help muffin “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on Easy Muffin Recipes such as chocolate chip banana muffins, eggless banana muffins and cake mix muffins.

• You can use fresh or frozen cranberries to make this cranberry walnut muffins recipe.
• Frozen cranberries do not have to be thawed before baking these cranberry muffins. They can be added directly to the batter and will thaw during the baking process.
• However, you need to make sure that you remove any ice attached to the frozen cranberries (or you will be adding too much liquid to the recipe and the cranberry muffins could come out undercooked). I like to wash off the ice off of the frozen cranberries & then dry the frozen cranberries (in order to make sure there is no extra moisture).
• Visitors – Do you prefer to use fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries when making cranberry nut muffins? Post your cranberry “preferences” & reasons why in the comment section below.

• Use FRESH walnuts. After you have opened a bag of chopped walnuts, the walnuts can go rancid (bad) quickly due to their high oil content.
• Once the walnut package has been opened, you should store the chopped walnuts in an airtight container in your refrigerator or freezer. Do not use old walnuts that have been sitting in your pantry for weeks/months in an open bag.
• Also check the expiration date on sealed (unopened) walnut packages in order to make sure that they are still good.
• If you run out of walnuts (or you are tired of walnut-based recipes), you can use chopped pecans as a nice substitute.
• Visitors – Do you use only chopped walnuts when making muffins? Or do you prefer to use another type of nut? Chopped pecans? Sliced almonds? Chopped cashews? Chopped peanuts? A combination of different chopped nuts? Please post your nut ideas & muffin variations in the comment section below.

• Optional – For a more citrus flavor, you can replace the 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon with 1 tablespoon (not teaspoon) of orange zest or lemon zest. However, making zest can be more difficult & time consuming versus just using ground cinnamon… so I skipped using zest in my easy cranberry muffin recipe.
• Optional (but a little more risky) – If you want a more “rounded” bakery-style muffin top, preheat your oven to 425 F. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425 F. Then without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temp to 350 F and bake the muffins for another 12 to 15 minutes.
• That initial high heat (of 425 F for 5 minutes) supercharges the baking soda & powder and creates extra steam. This extra leavening forces the batter to surge upwards and form a more rounded dome to the muffin.
• Bread Dad SKIPS this muffin rounding step because it introduces more variables to muffin making (and more variables means more things that can potentially go wrong). For example, if I am on the phone, replying to one of my blog visitors or one of my kids is going nuts!!, I might miss the 5 minute mark to change temps (and thus it is easier for the muffin tops to burn or for the muffins to be overbaked).
• As I stated at the top of the page, my cranberry nut muffins recipe doesn’t use complex steps such as halving cranberries, two different baking temps, zesting oranges, multiple mixing bowls, use of an electric mixer, etc. Why? Because muffins are supposed to be a fast and easy treat. I don’t have the time to make super fancy & over complicated muffins when I am trying to make a fast & tasty snack for my family & friends. I like to keep things simple and cut down on potential errors (because a baking failure is expensive).
• Visitors – Do you like to add any extra ingredients to your cranberry walnut muffins? For example, do you add chocolate chips? Orange or lemon zest? Extra spices? Please post your muffin variations & suggestions in the comment section below. Beginners find your muffin tips very helpful!

• For these cranberry muffins, I like to use vegetable oil instead of butter. Why? Muffins made with vegetable oil tend to taste MOISTER than muffins made with butter. The main reason is because vegetable oil remains liquid at normal room temperatures whereas butter turns back to a solid at room temperature. Therefore, the use of vegetable oil helps to create moister muffins.
• Also butter contains about 16% to 18% water (versus 0% in most vegetable oil). This water evaporates during the baking of the muffins (and thus creates a drier tasting muffin versus muffins made with vegetable oil).
• Optional – However, it you want a more buttery tasting (but slightly drier) muffin, you can replace the oil with unsalted butter on a 1:1 basis.
• You should use a NEUTRAL flavored vegetable oil (e.g. corn) in order to make this easy cranberry muffin recipe.
• Stronger flavored oils (e.g. peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil) may NEGATIVELY impact or change the taste of muffins. You want to use an oil that has very little flavor (so it does not interfere with the cranberry & walnut flavors).
• If you want to use olive oil, I would recommend using a “mild”, “light” or “extra light” olive oil as they would have the least flavor impact on the muffins. Unfortunately, extra virgin and virgin olive oil have stronger flavors and are more likely to negatively impact the taste of your muffins.
• A number of my visitors like to use avocado oil in order to make their muffins and banana breads. Avocado oil has a neutral flavor and is high in monounsaturated fats. However, as you are probably aware, avocado oil is usually significantly more expensive than corn oil.

• There are a variety of ways to pour the batter into the muffin trays. For example, you can scoop with a spoon (while using another spoon to scrape off the batter into the muffin tray), use a small cup and spoon, use an ice cream or cookie dough scoop with a trigger release, use a homemade “pastry bag” to squeeze the batter into the muffin liners, etc.
• As I stated in the instructions, I like to use an ice cream scoop.
• Use paper baking cups (muffin liners) if you want to easily extract the soft & moist muffins from the muffin trays. This also helps to prevent the cranberry muffins from sticking to the bottom of the muffin tray.
• Some people like to use reusable silicone muffin liners (versus disposable paper liners).
• Cranberries can be VERY sticky after baking. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you use muffin liners in order to more easily remove these cranberry walnut muffins from the trays & avoid any sticking issues.
• If you enjoy baked goods with cranberries, check out Bread Dad’s recipes for cranberry banana bread, cranberry orange muffins and bread machine cranberry walnut bread (a sandwich bread).

• To make this recipe, you can use either dairy milk or plant-based milks (such as oat milk or soy milk).
• Use plain (unflavored) milk to avoid negatively impacting the favor of the cranberry nut muffins.
• Optional – Some of my visitors like to use buttermilk (instead of regular milk) when making muffins. Why? Because the slight acidity of buttermilk tenderizes the gluten. This results in softer & more tender cranberry muffins (versus muffins made with regular milk).
• You can buy buttermilk in a carton from most major supermarkets, make buttermilk with buttermilk powder (buttermilk powder has a longer shelf life than fresh buttermilk) or combine a little lemon juice & regular milk to make a buttermilk substitute.
• However, since many people do not have buttermilk at home, I didn’t include it in this recipe. In the comment section below, please post whether you prefer to use buttermilk when making muffins and if you have any great buttermilk baking tips.

• You should use all purpose flour when making cranberry muffins. Do NOT use bread flour. If you use bread flour, you will get tougher & more rubbery muffins.
• All purpose flour has less protein than bread flour and this results in less gluten development. Less gluten means more tender & softer muffins. Bread flour is best for sandwich breads when you need more structural support in order to achieve taller & airier loaves.
• Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. baking soda and flour) for the best results. For example, if you use stale baking soda and/or baking powder, your muffins will not rise properly and will be too dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container. Old & hard baking soda/powder may lead to rising problems and/or leave small bitter clumps in your muffins.
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life and avoid spoilage (e.g. exposure to moisture, pests and dust).
• Flour (when stored in an open bag and not in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to overly wet batter, the required baking time may be longer than expected, etc.

• If you want to test these cranberry nut muffins to see if they are fully baked, you can use a digital “baking” thermometer. Muffins are usually fully baked if their internal temperature is around 200 F to 205 F. If the temperature is below this then they will be underbaked. If it is above this temperature range, they might be overbaked and dry.
• For the most accurate results, place the tip of the digital thermometer in the center of the muffin.
• It takes roughly 10 to 20 minutes to fully preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc.
• I like to use a hanging oven thermometer to confirm that my oven has reached the right temperature before baking my muffins. This helps to prevent the muffins from being over or under baked.
• Place your cranberry walnut muffins in the middle of your oven. If you place it on the top or bottom racks, the muffins may be too near the oven’s heating element and bake faster than expected or the tops of the muffins may burn.

• Long-Term Storage – To keep cranberry muffins for more than a day or two (depending on the heat & humidity in your kitchen), you need to freeze them. After the muffins have COMPLETELY cooled, you should wrap each muffin in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. When wrapping the muffins, make sure there are no exposed areas or the muffins can get freezer burns. Place the wrapped muffins in a large freezer bag or airtight container and then place it in your freezer.
• To thaw frozen muffins, remove the plastic/aluminum wrap and microwave them for 30 seconds in your microwave. Or leave them on your kitchen countertop to thaw out for 1 to 2 hours.

• If you have a problem with a recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (e.g. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (e.g. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (e.g. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a hot oven, hot muffin trays, etc.
• For more muffin recipes, please visit Bread Dad’s main Easy Muffin Recipes section.

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Want more Bread Dad recipes? Check out these sections:

1. Bread Machine Recipes – 90+ recipes such as banana bread, sourdough bread, pizza dough, cinnamon raisin bread, etc.
2. Bread Recipes – French bread, buttermilk bread, bagels, Italian bread, etc.
3. Banana Bread Recipes – 60+ recipes such as banana nut bread, eggless banana bread, blueberry banana bread, etc.
4. Quick Bread Recipes – Recipes using baking soda such as pumpkin bread, cranberry bread, gingerbread, etc.
5. Muffin Recipes – Muffins are delicious “mini” versions of banana breads & quick breads!

Reference Sources

1. Wikipedia, Cranberry
2. Wikipedia, Muffin
3. Wikipedia, Walnut

Related Recipes

1. Banana Nut Muffins
2. Cranberry Banana Bread
3. Cranberry Banana Nut Bread
4. Cranberry Banana Muffins
5. Eggless Banana Muffins
6. No Butter Banana Muffins

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