White Chocolate Cranberry Muffins — Soft, fluffy, and bursting with cranberries in every bite! Perfect way to use your fresh cranberries!!
Fresh Cranberry Muffin Recipe
It’s that time of year for cranberries. I just love cranberries and they’re perfect in these muffins.
Sweet white chocolate pairs perfectly with the cranberries and balances their tartness. It’s one of my favorite flavor combinations.
The muffins are soft, fluffy, buttery, and ultra moist. A combination of sour cream (or Greek yogurt), buttermilk, and the natural juices from the cranberries all help to create moist muffins with a tender crumb.
I wish cranberry season wasn’t so short. You can freeze cranberries and they do freeze very well, but they’re really such a ‘now’ ingredient.
So many recipes to make, so little time.
What’s in the Fresh Cranberry Muffins?
To make these cranberry muffins with fresh cranberries, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Eggs
- Sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
- Buttermilk
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- White chocolate chips
- Fresh cranberries
How to Make Cranberry Muffins
The cranberry muffin batter comes together like your typical muffin recipe. Whisk together the wet ingredients, add the dry, then fold in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.
After you get the batter in the muffin pan, top each muffin with a few cranberries. The cranberries add such an eye-catching pop of color and make the muffins irresistible.
To help create a nice domed top to the muffins, bake the muffins at 425F for 5 minutes before turning the oven down to 350F for the duration, another 18 to 20 minutes. Same principle as with popovers.
The intense burst of high heat for 5 minutes helps the muffins rise better. Because cranberries, climates, and ovens vary, keep a close eye on your muffins and bake until done, whatever that means in your oven.
Can I Use Frozen Cranberries?
Yes! I made these cranberry muffins with fresh cranberries, but frozen may be substituted. If using frozen, do not thaw them before adding them to the batter. You may need to add 1 to 2 minutes to the total bake time.
Can I Bake the Batter in a Loaf Pan?
I’m sure you could, although I haven’t tried it myself. You’d need to play around with the oven temperature / bake time though.
If you’re looking for a cranberry bread recipe, I recommend following my Cranberry Orange Bread recipe instead. I’ve made that recipe multiple times and know that it works.
Tips for Making the Best Cranberry Muffins
The recipe makes about 14 muffins, or 1 dozen plus a mini loaf. I love my mini loaf pans for that extra little bit of batter that I hate throwing out, but refuse to dirty another muffin pan for a couple muffins.
The loaf pan fits perfectly next to the muffin pan on the same oven rack so everything bakes evenly.
If desired, you may substitute the white chocolate chips with semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips. Both flavor pairings work well in this recipe!
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White Chocolate Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt, lite versions are okay
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk, buttermilk recommended, but regular milk or cream may be substituted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 ¼ cups fresh cranberries, plus more for sprinkling (frozen may be substituted, do not thaw if using frozen)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Spray a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan and one mini loaf pan very well with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (recipe yields about 14 muffins, or one dozen plus one mini loaf; or simply discard excess batter if that’s easier). I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer), add the butter, sugars, and cream together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the eggs, sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, and beat on medium high speed until combined, about 2 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, optional salt, and beat until just combined, about 1 minute; don’t overmix or muffins with be tough.
- Add the white chocolate chips and beat on low speed to incorporate, about 30 seconds.
- Add 1 1/4 cups cranberries and fold in by hand with a spatula.
- Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or spoon, turn batter out into prepared pans. Each muffin cavity should be filled nearly full. Turn remaining batter out into mini loaf pan or second muffin pan.
- Add 2 or 3 cranberries to the top of each muffin and to the top of mini loaf.
- Bake at 425F for 5 minutes.
- Without opening oven door, turn oven temp down to 350F and bake for about 18 to 20 minutes (total in-oven baking time is about 23 to 25 minutes), or until muffins are set, domed, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the center out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter, noting it’s not a perfect test and you may hit juicy cranberries or melted white chocolate chips which shouldn’t be confused with raw batter. Don’t overbake and start watching muffins closely at 20 minutes total because all cranberries, ovens, climates, etc. vary. Mini loaf may take a few minutes longer than muffins to bake depending on quantity of batter.
- Allow muffins to cool in pan on a wire rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until they’ve firmed up and are cool enough to handle.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Cranberry Recipes:
Crustless Cranberry Pie —A FAST, super EASY, no-mixer dessert that’s perfect for holiday entertaining!! Somewhere in between pie, cake, and blondies is what you get with this FESTIVE recipe!
Cranberry Oatmeal Bars — Fast, easy, no mixer bars with juicy cranberries and big crumbles!! Perfect for breakfast, snacks, or dessert! Soft, chewy, hearty, and so good!!
Cranberry Orange Bread — The fresh cranberries in this cranberry orange bread contrast nicely with the sweet orange glaze, making it the perfect blend of sweet and tart!
Cranberry Bliss Bars {Starbucks Copycat Recipe} – They taste just like the real thing and you can make them at home, year-round!
Cranberry and White Chocolate Chip Cookies – Cranberry Bliss Bar flavors, in cookie form. Tender, soft, pillowy centers and a personal favorite!
Chocolate Chip Cranberry Bars — Super soft, buttery bars packed with chewy cranberries! And there’s a chocolate overload in every bite!!
Cranberry Seven Layer Bars — If you need a holiday dessert that’s virtually effortless but that tastes like a million bucks, this is the one.
Beautiful muffins, Averie! I love baking with fresh cranberries and have a similar recipe for muffins on my blog. Totally agree on the first few minutes in higher temp to get the domed tops! I need to try these – the addition of white chocolate sounds delicious! Pinned!
Glad you’re a big fan of baking with cranberries too! I don’t do it enough. I usually either use dried or just make cranberry sauce with fresh…need to change that :)
I have a bag in the freezer right now! I wanted them for a recipe, but can’t seem to remember what it was. ::sigh:: “busy mother syndrome!” Anyways, these look delicious, and then I scroll down and see the blixx bars, yes! That is what I wanted them for, thank you for the reminder!
Glad the ‘reminder’ is going to work for you :)
but can’t seem to remember what it was. ::sigh:: “busy mother syndrome!” <--- I could say that about SO MANY THINGS in my life! Omg until you have kids, you just don't realize how good your memory was and how simple life was do you :)
This is exactly what I have in the works for the blog. You beat me to it! Looks utterly amazing. I want to sink my teeth right in.
Have an awesome day Averie!
So many cranberry recipes this time of year are going to be popping up. Hope yours turns out great!
They look perfect! The white chocolate and cranberries are a wonderful combination.
These muffins look delicious, Averie! I never think to make cranberry goodies, but I sure do love them. The addition of white chocolate chips sounds perfect, too!
Cranberry muffins are one of my absolute favorites!!! These are gorgeous! PINNED.
Thanks for the compliments and the pin :) And I got my first notifier yesterday….3 minutes only thankfully!
What an awesome combo, it’s perfect for the season. They look so fluffy and delicious.
Love the “burst of heat” hint. Will that work for all muffins? Love cranberry muffins. And … how have I missed your other cranberry recipes??? Yikes! Gotta get baking … good thing we have a crappy weather forecast for the next week … oven, here I come!
Love the “burst of heat” hint. Will that work for all muffins? = I find that it tends to work better when it’s a butter-based muffin rather than an oil based one. The water molecules in the butter heating up and rising, etc. Which is why many people will bake an all-butter pie crust on high heat or why bread bakers will start out the ovens hotter and then turn down the heat because it’s good with yeast, too. Sometimes, however, you run the risk of getting an overly browned exterior, even just from 5 minutes or a short time at high heat so it’s kind of…always an experiment :)
I don’t have a ton of other cranberry recipes but some. I linked a few in the related recipes. It’s such a short season and for like 360 days of the year, no one wants cranberry recipes other than the week before Thanksgiving!
Thanks! You’re so good about answering questions!
you are getting me in the christmas mood with the cranberry and white chocolate flavors. These muffins look DIVINE!
Totally agree on wishing cranberry season wasn’t so short! I just saw the fresh ones in store the other day and totally did a little happy dance.
Loving the white chocolate/cranberry combo and that these muffin use Greek yogurt! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and yes, it’s so short! I mean I do love pumpkin, but pumpkin season goes on for months (and seems to be getting longer every year!) and cranberry season is just such a little quick thing & it’s done!
Love the color and flavor combo of these–so pretty and perfect for this time of year. Fresh cranberries seem to bake up nicely–they bleed just enough to give some color but don’t completely stain the batter. You have some great cranberry recipes and I have to put in another thumbs up for your cabernet cranberry – blueberry sauce—love that stuff!
they bleed just enough to give some color but don’t completely stain the batter. <--- so true, and the opposite of blueberries which seem to stain the entire batter blue/gray/green if you're not careful! And so glad you love the cabernet cran-blueberry sauce. Me too :)
Cranberries + white chocolate = PERFECT combination for this time of year.
I love using Greek yogurt in muffins. It makes the texture so incredible!
And the trick of keeping the oven temp higher really works. I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago, and it’s amazing what a difference it made!
These look perfect. Can’t imagine a prettier muffin!
Glad you’re a fan of that trick too and it worked for you! And yes to Greek yogurt (or sour cream and/or buttermilk) for keeping everything so soft and moist!
These look yummy!! Cranberries will definitely be added to my next shopping list and this recipe to baking list. Thanks for sharing :)
These muffins are so pretty…I love that you use fresh cranberries instead of craisins so that you get that pop from the fresh fruit..so good…These will be perfect in the Thanksgiving bread basket…maybe I’ll make them mini so I can eat more!!
Yeah, for some reason we like fresh cranberries but not craisins. Don’t know why. Thanksgiving bread basket is such a good idea – and a tease, they’ll be the first ones gone, Ha.
Love the way you think about the mini food :)
And there’s just no way to get that pop of color with dried cranberries that you do with fresh. I love how they bleed ever so slightly and you just know they’re juicy and so good!
It really is such a shame that cranberry season is so short! These look absolutely lovely and light–a nice switch up from all the pumpkin recipes on Pinterest! Pinning these for the short window of cranberry season!
It’s such a short season and 51 weeks of the year, most people don’t want cranberry recipes, aside from right before Thanksgiving, and perhaps Xmas, but otherwise, it’s just too fast! Thanks for pinning!