Ridiculously low calorie yet moist and tangy Cranberry Orange Muffins!
I’m amazed every time I make muffins based on this recipe of mine. They rise like bakery muffins and they’re so soft, but they’re pretty much fat-free?
You’ll need 1 small orange and 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries for these. I used frozen ones since it’s so convenient to keep in the house. You’ll zest and get the juice out of that orange and start by combining the sugar (use unrefined coconut sugar if you prefer) with the zest first which releases the oils in the zest so that your muffins burst with flavor.
Then make the batter by beating your eggs then mixing with applesauce, some thick greek yogurt (I use the 2% strained yogurt by Fage brand, but I’m pretty sure 0% will work), sugar, zest and orange juice.
You’ll combine with the dry ingredients, fold in your cranberries, pour into muffin tins (I use a silicone muffin pan and grease it with spray oil also since these muffins are pretty much fat-free they will stick like superglue) and bake at a higher oven temperature first (in order to get that dome-y muffin top) and then keep baking at a lower temperature until they’re done! Let these cool and firm up before removing from the pan though.
I don’t know why I decided to photograph these on the darkest of all Boston winter days but oh well. Trust me they good! Let me know if you try <3
Skinny Cranberry Orange Muffins
Equipment
- silicone muffin pan
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 2 eggs, beaten (sub egg replacer)
- 1 cup applesauce (240 g) I used unsweetened, sub 2 mashed bananas
- 1/4 cup greek-style yogurt (60 g) df if desired, I used 2%
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar (72 g) sub granulated sweetener
- zest of 1 small orange
- juice of said orange (45 g) about 3 tbsp
Dry ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup flour (150 g) gf all purpose if desired
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Mix-in
- 1 cup cranberries (100 g) fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F and grease a silicone muffin tin (I don’t recommend using muffin liners with these since they WILL stick).
- Combine the sugar and zest together and let them sit a few minutes.
- Lightly beat your eggs and combine with applesauce, yogurt, orange juice, sugar and zest.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
- Fold dry into wet until combined. DO NOT OVERMIX. I cannot emphasize this enough. Just fold until no big flour clumps remain.
- Fold in cranberries.
- Pour into muffin tin and bake for 5 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350F and bake another 15-25 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean.
- Let muffins cool most of the way in the tins (at least 10 minutes) and then remove gently using a butter knife. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!
Notes
- I store leftovers in the fridge or freezer. If I want a warm muffin I thaw/warm in the microwave or room temperature.
- To make the muffins EXTRA moist (optional) add 1-2 tbsp oil to the liquid ingredients.