Toasted Pecan Cranberry Muffins are a Nutty Tart Treat

Can you smell that heavenly aroma wafting through the kitchen? It's the warm scent of toasted pecans and tart cranberries, a perfect blend of flavors that makes the taste buds dance with delight.

Get ready to satisfy your cravings and impress your family and friends with these delectable Toasted Pecan Cranberry Muffins.

This muffin recipe adds a few extra steps to regular muffins to ensure the perfect flavor and texture. First, the pecans are lightly toasted while the oven is preheating. Then, some of those pecans are ground up to make pecan flour for the muffin batter. The extra flavor is worth the few extra minutes.

If you don't have a food processor you can chop the nuts for the streusel topping by hand. For the muffins, I would recommend increasing the flour to 2 cups and chopping about ½ cup pecans to mix in the batter with the cranberries.

How do you make chunky streusel topping?

One of the most delicious parts of these muffins is the brown sugar pecan streusel topping. Over the years, I have had more than my share of failed streusel topping: either melting into the batter, dissolving into a powdery mess, or falling off completely.

Then I found the trick. Mix it before you start to make the muffins (or cake or bread), press it together then pop it into the freezer to let the butter harden. Just before the muffins are ready to go in the oven, crumble it into big and small bits and press lightly into the muffins.

The result is the perfect combination of sweet nutty goodness on the top of the muffins.

Delicious Cranberry Desserts from #OurFamilyTable

This sweet tart berry is more than just juice and relish! Some of my favorite bloggers are sharing how you can use this seasonal treat for dessert.

Delicious Cranberry Desserts

• Brown Sugar Bundt Cake with Cranberries from Hezzi-D's Recipe Box
• Cranberry Crumble Bars from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cranberry Fluff Salad from Jen Around the World
• Orange Craisin Waffle Bread Pudding from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Quick Cranberry Pecan Bread from Art of Natural Living

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Recipe

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Ingredients

 

Streusel Topping

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ⅛ teaspoons salt
• ½ cup pecans

For the Muffins

• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
• ¼ cup whole milk
• ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1¼ cups pecans
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries (thawed slightly first if frozen)
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 425℉. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with wrappers.
• Place 1 ¾ cups pecans on a baking sheet and put in oven while it is preheating. Remove as soon as pecans are lightly toasted. Remove from pan and let cool before slightly before continuing.

Streusel

• In the bowl of your food processor with the blade attachment, pulse together the flour, sugars, butter and salt until it resembles course sand. Add ½ cup toasted pecans and pulse just until the pecans are coarsely chopped, about 4-5 times
• Transfer the streusel topping to a small bowl, press together until firm and put in the freezer. 

Muffins

• In the food processor, process the remaining toasted pecans with the granulated sugar until it forms a coarse meal. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together pecan meal, flour, baking powder and salt.  
• Measure the milk in a 1 cup or larger measuring cup. Whisk in eggs, yogurt and melted butter until combined. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until moistened.
• In the food processor, pulse together the cranberries and powdered sugar a few times until the cranberries are coarsely chopped. 
• Fold the cranberries into the muffin batter. Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin tin, filling ¾ full.
• Break the streusel topping into chunks and top each muffin, pressing into the batter slightly. 
• Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  
• Let muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  

Notes

recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cookbook: 2,000 Recipes from 20 Years of America's Most Trusted Food Magazine

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Until next time, happy eating!
~Audrey