So I keep meaning to make cranberry nut bread, but I can’t think of an occasion or a purpose for it.  I’m usually not one to bake without a purpose because I live by myself so there is a good chance that I will end up eating it all myself.

Recently though I had an occasion to make muffins so I thought I would turn my need to make cranberry nut bread, into a need to make cranberry nut muffins. I looked around on some of my favorite sites to find recipes, and found the one below on the Food Network website.

I did, however, make one smart swap. The recipe called for sour cream, and to be honest, I’ve never been a fan. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t by it for a specific recipe, but I thought a better alternative would be greek yogurt.  So I swapped out the sour cream for greek yogurt and even added a little orange zest for brightness the muffins turned out great!

One of the great things about these muffins is the fabulous streusel topping.  It’s like coffee cake meets muffin. You should definitely give these a try the next time you are in need of a breakfast/brunch treat!

Cranberry Nut Crumb Muffins

Yields about 24 muffins, adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 8 Tbs unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of one orange
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, cherries, or raisins

Topping

• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbs flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with liners.
2. In one bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a different bowl cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time., then vanilla and orange zest.
4. Alternate adding dry mixture and yogurt to the wet mixture.  Begin and end with the dry.
5. Fold in the dried cranberries, and try not to over mix the batter.
6. To make the topping combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, and smush together with hands or pastry cutter to get to a sandy consistency.
7. Fill cupcake tins about two thirds full with batter then sprinkle each with the crumb topping.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and tester comes out clean.