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.
These look amazing! Could I make it as one big loaf rather than muffins? What would the baking instructions be?
Yes you can bake it as a large loaf but being that I haven’t tried it that way, I’m not sure how long it will take to bake.
gorgeous photos, Averie! I am on a huge cranberry kick right now– both fresh and dried. and I love the combination of white chocolate and cranberry!
I of course made and shot these the day before you posted yours and was going to wait a bit longer to post them but time is ticking on cranberry season! I do love cran/white choc but I wish I could try your cran/orange combo too!
these muffins look like holiday perfection, Averie! I wish I had a few to snack on right now! Pinned!
Thanks for pinning, Jocelyn! :)
Wow! This is so mind-blowingly innovative, and the photos are fantastic as always.
Thanks for the compliments!
I made the cranberry muffins, but left out white chocolate chips and added nuts. They were great. I am not a big white chocolate fan, but sure they are great in the muffins.
Glad you enjoyed the muffins and swapped out the white choc for nuts based on your preferences and that they came out great!
Good call in this flavor combination! I oft forget about cranberries and white chocolate, even though one of my favorite cookies in the world are cranberry, oatmeal and white chip cookies. There’s something about the bright burst of tart cranberries with that sweet, melty white chocolate that’s just so irresistible. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning and so many sweet comments today!! xo
These are super pretty and holiday-ish. Love that you used fresh cranberries. I’m making white choc. raspberry muffs today, but definitely planning to get some fresh cranberries to do this one soon :) YUM.
Your white choc/rasp muffins sound great! That’s an amazing combo!
Ooo, these look awesome Averie! I’m sure the sweetness of the white chocolate balances the tartness of the cranberries nicely.
Just give me all those sweet potatoes you made, that’s all I want for Thanksgiving! :)
you are making me want to try more than just cranberry sauce, I almost never bake with them, but thee muffins look too good not to try
These look great Averie!! Totally pinned & totally baking them soon :)
Thank you my dear! :) xoxo
I’m obsessed with white chocolate. And cranberries! This is my dream breakfast!
Cranberries and white chocolate, yum! Amazing muffins and great taste!
Averie,
fabulous muffins!!! But I expect nothing less when I visit your blog. . everything I’ve baked from here is legit!!! LOVE these and pinned!
Thanks for pinning and your sweet words :)
These are just gorgeous! Yay for cranberry season!
I wish cranberry season wasn’t so short too! These muffins looks gorgeous, definitely a good way to use this little deliciousness :D
I love cranberries and the combination with white chocolate is just mouthwatering! Your muffins look amazingly delicious!