Low Fat Orange Cranberry Muffins

I bought a packet of "no-name" dried cranberries on my visit to Canada last year. I would have loved to purchase the whole range of dried and candied fruits, only the lack of luggage space discouraged me from doing so. We consumed most of the packet as such with dried fruits and nuts, but since this makes a wonderful ingredient in cakes too, I decided to try out orange muffins with cranberries. I had decided to make this the low-fat version using oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:

Flour - 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Egg - 1 
Freshly squeezed orange juice - 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Cranberries - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Orange zest -  1 tbsp
Curd - 1/4 cup


Method:

Preheat oven to (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease and line cupcake moulds.

In a small bowl, combine the beaten egg with the orange juice and vanilla extract. Add the curd and baking soda and keep aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest. Blend the oil into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in the chopped cranberries. Pour into the prepared cupcake moulds and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. 

Verdict:  As with most muffins, these are super quick and easy to make. The cranberries give and added dash to the whole baked goodie :)