Cranberry Sauce Muffins are an easy healthy breakfast or snack solution for your leftover cranberry sauce. Super moist, dairy free and sweetened with date paste. These easy muffins have the spice of the holidays, orange zest and jeweled with delicious slightly sweet and tart cranberries.
Table of contents
- What's to Love
- What to Do with Leftover Cranberry Sauce?
- Homemade Low Sugar Cranberry Sauce
- Low Sugar Honey Sweetened Cranberry Sauce Ingredients
- Date Paste Compared to Regular Granulated Sugar
- How to Make Date Paste from Scratch?
- Ingredients and Substitution Options
- How to Make Holiday Muffins?
- Baking Tips
- Cranberries are the Year Around Super Food
- Be Good to Yourself!
- Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
- More delicious Bread and Muffin Recipes
What's to Love
Are ready to start the holiday baking? If you are a slow starter like us, then these muffins are super easy way to start the transition and you can use up the leftover cranberry sauce. Win- Win!
Every bite of these easy date sweetened muffins is like taking a bite of the holidays. With the ginger, cinnamon, cranberries and dates, it tastes like our Gingerbread Boys and Girls Cookies, but a bit healthier. We are not quite ready to indulge in everything sweet. Instead we enjoy making things a little more nutritious using date paste instead of refined sugar like in our apple oatmeal date cookies.
What to Do with Leftover Cranberry Sauce?
Cranberry sauce has been a part of our Thanksgiving and holidays as long as we can remember. Some of our favorite recipes using cranberry sauce are…
- Drizzle sauce over cream cheese and goat cheese ball and serve with crackers for a fun appetizer.
- Delicious on toast, scones or as a topping for ice cream or our Easy Microwave Chocolate Pudding.
- Rocks over our Spiced Cranberry Glazed Ham.
- Slather cranberry sauce over their turkey sandwiches the next day for lunches.
- However, our favorite way to use up that extra cranberry sauce is to make Cranberry Sauce Muffins!
Homemade Low Sugar Cranberry Sauce
Please skip the stuff in the can! There is nothing odder than having a gelatin based wiggly food on the dinner table that still has the ridges in the can showing. (smiling). If you made these muffins with the stuff in the can, you could call it Jellied Cranberry Muffins. Did you know it takes less than 10 minutes to whip up your own cranberry sauce? Really! The canned stuff is just a can of sugar, preservatives, cranberries and some other items we cannot pronounce.
Our homemade lower sugar honey sweetened cranberry sauce has a delightful blend of sweet and sour cranberries that makes it addictive. Making your own sauce is as simple as putting everything into a saucepan and letting it come up to boil and once the cranberries start to pop and let out their juices, it is ready. Just as simple as that!
Low Sugar Honey Sweetened Cranberry Sauce Ingredients
- Fresh Cranberries – 12 oz
- Juice of 1 fresh orange
- Orange zest - 1 tablespoon
- Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
- Honey ⅓ cup +2 tablespoons
- Salt – ¼ teaspoon
Date Paste Compared to Regular Granulated Sugar
Did you know that dates have a lower glycemic spike compared to granulated sugar? According to a study by NIH, dates caused less of a postprandial elevation in sugar levels compared to regular granulated sugar consumption. In other words, the glucose level raises more slowly and does not spike as abruptly regular granulated sugar.
However, at the end of the day, sugar is sugar. Whether it is a natural and unrefined or refined. That is exactly why we used lower amount of date paste. It gives this healthy muffin recipe a lovely delicately sweet and slightly sour cranberries for one addictive bite.
How to Make Date Paste from Scratch?
You are going to want to make a batch of date paste as soon as possible because it is absolutely delicious in our Healthy Pumpkin Muffins, Easy Pumpkin Empanadas, Homemade Cream Earl Bubble Tea and of course in our cranberry holiday muffins.
In order to make homemade date paste, you will need 2 cups of pitted dates (medjool dates are our favorite), and about ½ cup of warm water and blitz it in a food processor until smooth. Make a batch today so you have it for all of your holiday baking.
Ingredients and Substitution Options
- All Purpose Flour - (we have not tested this recipe with a gluten free flour mix or blend)
- Date paste – To sweeten the muffins, you can exchange 1:1 with regular granulated sugar or brown sugar. If you want to use another sweetener alternative, you will have to determine the ratio exchange for ¾ cup of sugar. Each sugar alternative works a little differently.
- Almond milk – We wanted dairy free muffins as dairy is not our friend. However, you can use regular milk or other non-dairy milk brands of choice.
- Cranberry Sauce – Our Honey Sweetened cranberry sauce is a less sweet compared to the regular recipes or use up the leftover cranberry sauce on hand.
- Orange juice – We used fresh, but you can also use orange juice in a can.
- Orange Zest – Fresh citrus zest in the muffin batter and as a garnish is really nice. You can use mandarin oranges or even lemon zest if you do not have fresh oranges on hand.
- Mix Ins – Have fun with this! Add chocolate chips, nuts or raisins as desired. We garnished our muffins with a little bit of dried old fashion oatmeal for a fun topping. However, it is completely optional.
How to Make Holiday Muffins?
- In a large bowl combine your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon) and set aside.
- Then, in your mixing bowl add your wet ingredients (date paste, eggs, almond milk, vanilla and coconut oil) and mix until well incorporated.
- Now, slowly add your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with a mixer.
- Last not but least, add your delicious holiday cranberry sauce and orange zest.
- Place in muffin cup and bake at 400 degrees F (204 degrees C) for about 14- 16 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean and slightly golden on the top.
- Remove from the oven and dust with a little orange zest if desired. Let rest in your tins for 5 minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool.
Baking Tips
- Use cupcake liners or grease pan with oil spray to prevent sticking.
- When, date paste is refrigerated it is very firm. You will need to scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl a few times to get the date paste off the bottom.
- If you have made homemade date paste from scratch and your paste is still a little chunky, that makes for one extra delicious muffin bite. Don’t sweat it.
- You can exchange date paste with granulated or brown sugar in a 1:1 ratio. We used ¾ date paste so exchange with ¾ cup brown or granulated sugar.
- Fill your cupcake tins up to the top. They will rise and make 12 large gorgeous muffins. No one like those little skimpy muffins with a flat top because you filled it only ¾ of the way full.
- Add ins are fun! Try mini chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, etc. We love the little extra nutty flavor of plain dried oats as a topping for ours. Totally optional, but delicious.
- Cranberry sauce muffins can be refrigerated for up to a week in a sealed container or can be stored frozen for up to 2 months.
- These little holiday muffins are fantastic for breakfasts on the go, car trips, school and work lunches or as a snack. You might also like our Cranberry Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.
Cranberries are the Year Around Super Food
Muffins made with cranberry sauce are chock full of full of delicious whole bursted cranberries. Cranberries are filled with antioxidants, vitamin C and have been proven positive for antimicrobial effects and gut health, according to a study by NIH. This time of the year we need to be extra kind to our bodies and nourish them from the inside, as the outside stressors can really take a toll on our bodies.
Be Good to Yourself!
This time of the year seems to really put a lot of extra stress on our bodies. The weather is unpredictable and it’s the flu and cold season. There are many deadlines for work, school and that whole holiday prep thing that really puts a lot of unneeded stress on our bodies. (If it makes you feel any better, we have not purchased one Christmas gift and have contracted out the holiday cards to Vistaprint) Delegate! Be good to yourself. Don’t overextend yourself. Take time for yourself and simplify. Eat some healthy Cranberry Sauce Muffins!
Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
Make sure your ingredients such as eggs, date paste and coconut oil (melted) are at room temperature first. This ensures that the ingredients combine well, and this makes for a lighter and fluffy muffin. Most importantly DO NOT OVERMIX your muffin batter! Small little lumps are okay. If you overmix your muffin batter, it will activate the glutens and make your muffins tough.
Muffins will be done when they have a lightly golden top and a toothpick comes out clean without any batter on it. As every oven heats a little differently, we always set our timer for about 3 minutes less than the instructions. Then, start to check the muffins and add more time as needed. You can always bake a little longer, but you can’t fix over baked muffins. If you touch the top of the muffins, they should spring back.
The muffin tops are the best. We could not agree more. In order to get a large muffin with a big muffin top, fill your muffin tins almost to the top with your muffin batter. Muffins will rise high in the oven for a big muffin top.
More delicious Bread and Muffin Recipes
Healthy Pumpkin Muffins (Dairy-free and Sugar Free)
Hong Zao Bread (Chinese Date Bread)
Grab n Go Chai Breakfast Biscuit
Baked Matcha Lemon Glazed Donuts
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Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Equipment
- muffin or cupcake tin
- mixer
- cupcake liners
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ginger dried ground
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon dried ground
- ¾ cup date paste instructions below
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup almond milk or dairy alternative of choice
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted or oil of choice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup cranberry sauce leftover cranberry sauce (We used a honey sweetened cranberry sauce - see notes below)
- 1 tablespoon orange zest and extra for garnish
- ¼ cup old fashion oats dried (optional for garlish)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 204 Celsius (400 degrees F)
- Place cupcake/muffin liners in the cupcake tin or spray cupcake tin with oil to prevent sticking. (We always have better luck with the cupcake liners)
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and mix together. Set aside.
- In another bowl combine date paste and eggs and mix with blender. Add almond milk or dairy of choice, coconut oil and vanilla and mix well.
- Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Do not over mix! It's okay if the batter is slightly lumpy.
- Fold in cranberry sauce and orange zest. If you would like to add fun add ins like mini chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, etc., go ahead and do this now.
- Scoop muffin mixture into lined muffin tins. We use an ice cream scooper. Fill almost to the top. This recipe will make 12 large muffins with big muffin tops.
- Garnish with a dried oatmeal flakes as desired
- Bake for 14-16 minutes. Muffins will be done when they are slightly golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean. (As everyone’s oven is always just a little different, we suggest you set your timer for about 12minutes and then check on them. Add more time as needed.) Allow to rest for 5minutes in the muffin tin. Remove the muffins from the muffin tin and rest on a wire rack.
- Grate a little orange zest on top for garnish, if desired and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Fresh Cranberries – 12 oz
- Juice of 1 fresh orange
- Orange zest - 1 tablespoon
- Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
- Honey ⅓ cup +2 tablespoons
- Salt – ¼ teaspoon
Cindy says
These muffins sound delicious. This is one recipe I will be making!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Cindy! There is always leftover cranberry sauce after the Thanksgiving feast - we hope you give this recipe a try this weekend. Take Care
Ken says
Do you think I could substitute the cranberries with any other fruits?
Carla says
What a great use of the leftover cranberry sauce! waste not want not.
HWC Magazine says
Thanks Carla. We are all about using up all the bits and bobs of leftovers in the refrigerator. Hope you give our Cranberry Sauce muffins a try soon.