Eggnog Cranberry Muffins are the perfect muffin recipe to bake during the fall and winter holiday season.
Weekends are the best time to try new muffin recipes because you get the bonus of enjoying them for breakfast in the week ahead as well. These are beautiful muffins full of holiday flavors, and they have a sweet streusel topping. Eggnog and cranberry are a nice combination.
How to make Eggnog Cranberry Muffins:
First you’ll make a typical muffin batter. There is eggnog added to the batter and a little bit of almond extract. Then you’ll make the streusel- a simple mix of flour, sugar, butter and pecans. That’s sprinkled on top. If you have nut allergies, you can use vanilla extract in place of almond extract and you can leave out the pecans entirely.
The recipe makes between 14 and 16 muffins. Is it annoying that it doesn’t make exactly 12? Sometimes things can’t be that precise. If you don’t have two muffin pans, just bake the first 12… and then you can pop those out and use the rest of the batter to bake a few more.
A Note About Cranberries:
Lots of people ask about the cranberries. You do not have to buy frozen cranberries. Buy fresh cranberries and throw the bag in the freezer. Then they’ll be frozen! The reason for this is that frozen cranberries are easier and much less messy to chop when they’re frozen. Cranberries store in the freezer very well. I always buys several bags in the fall and keep them stored in the freezer so I can use them all year long. Dried cranberries can be substituted for fresh cranberries, if you’d like.
Prep and make-ahead tips:
Eggnog Cranberry Muffins may be stored in a covered container for a few days while you enjoy them and share with others. I think they’d also freeze well. Just let them sit at room temperature to defrost. If you would like a grab and go breakfast, freeze them in individual zip baggies. Take one out of the freezer the night before, or grab a frozen one to take with you. What a treat!
You won’t find a muffin like this at Starbucks, so bake Eggnog Cranberry Muffins at home and enjoy!
Here are a few more muffin recipes you might like to try:
- Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins
- Low Fat Strawberry Cinnamon Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Great Grains Muffins
- Sweet Cherry Muffins
- Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Chocolate Chunk Muffins
- Whole Grain Banana Muffins
Eggnog Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients
MUFFINS:
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup eggnog
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries (easiest to chop if you freeze them first)
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, slightly softened
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Instructions
PREPARE THE MUFFINS:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray 14 to 16 muffin cups with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, eggnog, butter and almond extract. Stir in the dry ingredients just until combined. In a separate bowl, toss the chopped cranberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar and then stir into the batter.
PREPARE THE STREUSEL TOPPING:
- In a medium bowl, combine the topping ingredients using a pastry cutter (or two knives) until crumbly.
BAKE THE MUFFINS:
- Fill the prepared muffin cups two-thirds full. Top each with a little of the streusel topping. Bake 18 to 22 minutes, or until the muffins test done with a toothpick inserted in the center coming out clean.
Notes
- *If you have eggnog extract, go ahead and use that instead of the almond. Vanilla extract can also be used in place of almond.
- *Low Fat eggnog is perfectly okay to use in this recipe.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I just made these, and replaced the sugar for Splenda. But the batter went so thick and gluey! I could hardly mix it together! And it was only enough batter to make 12 muffins. They’re still in the oven baking, so I don’t know how they’ll turn out.
I’m not so familiar with sugar subs, so perhaps that made a difference.
I prefer dense to “light”…so I’ll follow the recipe given.
These look good. For this recipe and others that call for EggNog, do you add the alcohol into the eggnog or just use the non-alcoholic eggnog from the carton?
Just the nonalcoholic eggnog from the carton 🙂
These muffins were delicious! They were wonderfully moist and the cranberries still had a bite to them! However, I really do not taste any of the eggnog…I’d recommend add more eggnog and less butter
Delicious and easy! I made these for a neighborhood holiday brunch, and they were perfect. I’ll definitely make them again.
I made these muffins twice, the first time following the recipe exactly. I found them flavorful but a bit dense. So I tweaked them just a bit the second time. Added a cup of eggnog instead of 3/4, and a 1/4 cup butter instead of 1/3. And I doubled the amount of cranberries to 2 cups. And they were great, moist and full of berries. The streusel makes them especially yummy, but you can half the streusel recipe and have the perfect amount. With my tweaks, a keeper. I make them gluten free and they bake up great.
Hi Jennifer – do you use cup for cup of make them gluten free?
Made these for Christmas breakfast yesterday . I used dried cranberries and baked them in the mini-muffin tins, but they were delicious!