White Chocolate, Cranberry and Orange Christmas Muffins

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Orange infused light and fluffy muffins studded with white chocolate with a burst of delicious cranberry sauce in the centre. As these muffins bake, the festive aromas will waft through the house; what a delicious way to start your Christmas morning. But the best bit is, they can be made entirely in advance so there is absolutely no work to do on the day, apart from put them in the oven!

Get ready for Christmas by making up a batch of these muffins, up to the point they go in the oven – instead pop them, (in the paper cases in the baking tray) immediately in the freezer. As soon as they are frozen. cover with cling film and save until you want to cook them

All you need to do on Christmas morning is preheat the oven and cook them. In fact, you can do this with any of the muffin recipes on my blog. When the girls were younger, their favourite was orange infused muffins loaded with chunks of Terry’s Chocolate Orange. Given we have eaten all these, I might make up a batch of these for this year!

This recipe is based on my Sweet Muffins/Loaf – Core Recipe. So if you fancy adding your own take and your favourite flavours and add-ins, simply refer to the Core Recipe and use your imagination.

How to make White Chocolate, Cranberry and Orange Christmas Muffins

Quick, easy and all made in one bowl.

Collect all your ingredients together:

Basic ingredients:

• unsalted butter
• sugar
• milk
• lemon juice
• egg
• flour
• baking powder
• bicarbonate/baking soda
• salt

Additional ingredients:

• vanilla extract
• white chocolate
• grated orange zest
• cranberry sauce

How to make these festive muffins:

1. Melt the butter in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl. (If you do not have a microwave, you can melt the butter in a large saucepan and then use the saucepan as your mixing bowl – if you are using a metal balloon whisk, make sure your saucepan is not non-stick!)
2. Add the sugar, milk, lemon juice, vanilla extract and egg. When you add the lemon juice to the milk, it will curdle. This is OK! Your lemon juice is basically turning your milk into buttermilk.
3. Mix thoroughly with a balloon whisk.
4. Put a sieve over the bowl and measure in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Sieve into the mixing bowl.
5. Fold until 80% mixed in.
6. Add the orange zest and white chocolate and fold in. Do not over mix – it is ok to have a few lumps.
7. Divide roughly ⅓ of the mixture into your muffin cases.
8. Put ½ teaspoon of cranberry sauce or jam in the centre of each muffin.
9. Divide the remaining ⅔ of the mixture between your muffin cases, ensuring the sauce/jam is covered.
10. Top with 2 or 3 chunks of white chocolate. If you have any fresh cranberries you can add a couple of these too.
11. Cook in the centre of a pre-heated oven at a high heat for 5 minutes (or 10 minutes if the batter is frozen) and then reduce the temperature until cooked – around a further 15 minutes.
12. They are cooked when they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the sponge (try to avoid the sauce/jam!) comes out clean.

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Freezing uncooked muffins:

You can freeze these muffins before they you cook them. All you need to do is:

1. Prepare to the end of point 10 above.
2. As soon as the muffins are prepared, place them in the freezer in the muffin tray immediately. Please note:
   • Leaving them in the muffin tray ensures they keep their shape.
   • If you do not do this immediately, the raising agents will start to activate and this will reduce their effectiveness when cooked.
3. Most likely the muffins will freeze onto the tray and you will not be able to remove them. I leave them in the tray and cover with clingfilm. However, if you need to use the tray for something else, pour around 2 1/2 cms/1 inch hot water into your kitchen sink and sit the tray in the hot water. The muffins should quickly release from the tray after around 20 seconds. These can now be stored in an airtight container or freezer bag in the freezer.
4. When you are ready to cook the muffins, preheat the oven.
   • Transfer the frozen muffins directly from the freezer into the oven in the muffin tray.
   • cook as normal apart from cooking at the higher temperature for 10 rather than 5 minutes.

Freezing cooked muffins:

You can also freeze these muffins after they have been cooked. Once cooked, allow to cool and freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Proof!

I cooked 3 muffins immediately and then 3 the following day after they had been frozen. See below!

Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.