Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Muffins

Gluten free cooks need a handful of recipes they love that can be varied with the seasons. These gluten free Cranberry Orange Muffins are one of those recipes. I make them with blueberries and lemon in the summer, then the classic combo of cranberry and orange from October right through the winter citrus season.

Enjoy these muffins with coffee, in your lunch or share them at a meeting. They’re also a nice touch for a holiday brunch table or gift basket during all the celebrations from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

Ingredients

I love a good streusel topping and in this recipe the orange zest adds an extra flavour punch.

• EGFG gluten free flour blend (sweet rice flour, potato starch, sorghum flour & millet flour) - This is my everyday GF flour blend that works in most of my baking. Use it or try any homemade or store-bought flour blend you want. If that blend works in place of mine, it will likely work in all (or almost all) of the 100+ recipes where I use my EGFG flour blend.

• Sugar - White for the muffins and brown for the streusel.

• Baking powder and baking soda are often used together to lighten up gluten free baked goods.

• Xanthan gum - This is the glue that adds structure to gluten free baking. It seems expensive but is used in tiny amounts so just buy it. If you can't tolerate binders or want to bake without them you will want to learn about the options for substitutions.

• Cinnamon - My streusel always has cinnamon.

• Orange juice and zest - Zest is the secret for the best citrus flavour in many recipes.

• Fresh or frozen cranberries - This is the recipe I make to use up leftover cranberries I find in my freezer.

• Walnuts - Nuts add a richness as well as a pleasant crunch to these muffins.

See recipe card for complete ingredient list and exact amounts.

Instructions

All muffin pans are not the exact same size. Note the cooking time with your specific pan and oven so you can repeat recipes with success.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine. This common instruction works in this recipe but gluten free cooks need to be aware that some gluten free recipes have different instructions to make up for the properties of the flour used in that recipe. When you're learning follow the instructions and learn as you go.

Substitutions & Variations

EGFG gluten free flour blend - If for any reason you can't use my everyday blend, work at finding a substitute. It takes trial and error but once you have a reliable blend, that works in most of your baking, it's a game changer. Just don't try and make it work in every recipe.

Dairy Free - Substitute the butter with oil or any dairy free substitute.

Sugar Substitutes - Substituting with other sweeteners does affect each recipe so make small changes and pay attention to the results. When I'm making muffins for myself I often decrease the sugar in my own recipes by 2 tablespoons. I haven't tried many alternatives but the beauty of making the same recipes over and over is that you can experiment and perfect them.

Less Sweet - When I'm lazy and don't want to make the streusel, or I just don't want a sweet muffin, I just skip it. For more protein and flavour, I fold a handful of chopped nuts into the batter and bake as usual.

Walnuts - Pecans are a great substitute for walnuts in baking. If you're out of nuts using almond flour in the streusel will add some richness and a nutty taste.

Streusel Topping - As you collect recipes you'll notice that there are many different streusel toppings. Any of them can be used on these muffins. Slight variations are in my Rhubarb Streusel Muffins or the stuffing in my oven-baked stuffed apples (that's streusel too). I don't have a favourite, I just love them all!

Cake vs Muffins - This was originally a cake recipe that I couldn't reproduce gluten free. I changed it to muffins but now I know I could double the xanthan gum and bake it in a Bundt pan for a fancier presentation.

Get The Tools

My advice is always buy quality bakeware since it will likely last you for more years than you can imagine. It can be fun to make muffins in different shapes and sizes so think about what you want and buy that. Here are some ideas.

• Regular size muffin pan in 6 or 12 cups, my choice for everyday snacks.
• Mini size muffin tin for little hands or a change from the ordinary.
• A silicone muffin baking pan, 6 or 12. This avoids the need for muffin liners or greasing a muffin pan.
• I see a ceramic coated muffin pan as another option.
• A regular 10-inch Bundt pan if you're going to make this recipe as a whole cake or the mini Bundtlette pans because they are so darn cute! These tube shaped pans solve the problem of a gluten free cake not cooking through to the center.
• Regular round silicone muffin liners or a set of different shaped muffin liners because some of us like to think outside the circle.

Storage

Store in an airtight container for 2 or 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Gluten free baking doesn't stay fresh as long as baking with wheat flour. Learn to store baking in airtight containers as soon as it has completely cooled, even double wrapping items used to be recommended.

More Cranberry Orange Recipes

Cook with the seasons in mind and you've got variety built right into everything that comes out of your kitchen. These are some of the fall recipes I've been making for decades, long before I heard of gluten free. I converted these muffins and the scones below but the rest are naturally gluten free.