Cran-apple Muffins

I am a big fan of fruit breads, and tend to manipulate my standby banana bread recipe to accommodate just about any kind of fruit-and-nut combination I can think of.  That recipe has absorbed countless seasonal variations, including many which bore little-to-no resemblance to banana bread.  However, I didn't think it would be quite right for the cranberries, so I went looking for a recipe specific to them.  

I was on a winning streak with the MS seasonal recipes website, but this one is actually from the Tourism Prince Edward Island site.  Now, that "got me cooking" - Prince Edward Island is the home of Anne of Green Gables, a pivotal series of childhood books.  Our thanks to Maureen Cudmore, who submitted this simple recipe to that site.  Now I have yet another good reason to go visit that island while we are in Eastern Canada - cranberries!

Of course, the beauty of this type of batter is that it is versatile, and can be baked as either bread or muffins.  I made some both ways, after running out of patience for our single, tiny 6-cup muffin tin half-way through the batch.  Warm these little morsels up in a toaster oven (if you have one), and slather butter on them.  They'll melt in your mouth, with the zing of the cranberries oozing into your taste buds.  You might even make audible sounds of appreciation, but don't worry, anyone else eating them will be too busy doing the same to notice.

Did I mention you should double the recipe?  Definitely!  

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup applesauce (or softly cooked apples)
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine melted
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Directions

• In medium bowl, sift together the first five dry ingredients. 
• In small bowl, combine egg, milk, applesauce and butter and mix well. 
• Add egg mixture to flour mixture just until moistened. 
• In small bowl toss 2 Tbsp. of flour with cranberries. Fold into batter. 
• Spoon batter into 12 cup greased muffin cups. Sprinkle cinnamon and 2 Tbsp. of sugar over tops of muffins. 
• Bake in preheated 400 F oven 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

SOURCE NOTES

• Cranberries - St. Foy farmers market (Marché public de Saint-Foy)
• Apples - Verger Nicolois, St. Nicolas, QC
• Baking supplies (flour, sugar, nuts, etc.) - Le Crac/La Carrotte Joyeuse