Xmas-y Cranberry Spice Muffins

(makes 12 large or 24 mini + 2 large ones?)

Adapted from Taste

I am a big fan of the Christmas spices so this was a tasty muffin recipe to try, but actually to be honest i only made these muffins because mum had one of those Costco moments:

I mean, seriously, i said i like cranberries and i know they're good for me.. good for Vitamin C, E, K and high in antioxidants... But what on earth am i going to do with 1.5kg of them?! Mum's like, "Just put them in your cereal..." Seriously? For the next 2 yrs??

Anyways, so potentially this may be the first of many posts in my experimenting... any suggestions welcome!

Prep time: 15-20 min

Cooking time: 20-25 min

Ingredients:

1 C (140g) dried cranberries (craisins)
2 C (300g) self-raising flour
3/4 C (155g) brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 C (185ml) buttermilk
1/2 C (125ml) vegetable oil
1 egg, lightly whisked

100g white chocolate, chopped (optional)

1 tsp cinnamon, extra
1 tbs brown sugar, extra

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200˚C and line the muffin pan with paper cases.

NB. To make it easier to peel the paper cases off, i often spray oil the inside of the case.

2. Place the cranberries in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 10 minutes to soak (and rehydrate). Drain well.

Left: My bro's cool ginger grater from Japan
Right: rehydrating cranberries, 1 C down, 99 more to go 

3. Combine the flour, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. Whisk the buttermilk, oil and egg together until just combined.

5. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture until just combined, then fold in the cranberries and white chocolate (optional). Don't overmix! 

NB. This is quite a thick batter but don't worry, it ends up quite light and fluffy!

6. Spoon evenly into the muffin pan and sprinkle the top with the extra cinnamon sugar mix. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

7. Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes. Serve warm.