Cranberry Almond Muffins

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Seasonal promotions for canned pumpkin and cranberry sauce have started. I'm not immune to the lure of lovely displays, so I always stock the pantry as soon as they appear. The recipe I'm featuring today is seasonal and I don't use it much past the Thanksgiving holiday. It's a nice recipe and makes good muffins, but in a world of great muffins, it really is not my best or favorite. That being said, these muffins appeal to a lot of folks and I get a lot of requests to make them at this time of year. I suspect the sauce buried in the muffins is the lure. Cranberries and almonds have a natural affinity for each other and they marry well in this recipe. While it's easy to go overboard with almond extract, its use here is controlled and the end result is a muffin that nicely balances two strong flavors. I really think you'll enjoy them. They are certainly worth a try. Here's the recipe

Cranberry Almond Muffins ...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Janice Pletscher

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup sliced almonds, divided use
1/2 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or line standard muffin cups with paper liners.
2) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
3) Combine eggs, sour cream, butter and almond extract in another bowl.
4) Stir wet ingredients into flour mixture, mixing just until moistened. Fold in 1/2 cup almonds.
5) Fill prepared muffin cups half full;. Drop 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce into center of each muffin. Cover with enough batter to fill cups three-fourths full. Sprinkle with remaining almonds.
6) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 8 muffins.








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