Description
Festive Swirled Cranberry Cornbread Muffins are perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas! Fluffy cornbread muffins are swirled with cranberry sauce, giving them the perfect balance of savory & sweet. They’re just as easy to make as they are impressive to serve!
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners and set aside.
- Mix the dry ingredients: Add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, & kosher salt to a large bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Finish the muffin batter: Add the eggs and milk to a medium bowl, whisking to combine. Whisk in the melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Take care not to overmix the batter!
- Prep the muffins: Add 2 tablespoons of the cornbread muffin batter to each of the prepared liners. I like to use a 2 tablespoon scoop, to keep everything uniform. Add 1 teaspoon of the cranberry sauce over top, using a toothpick to swirl the cranberry sauce into the batter. Repeat once more with 2 more tablespoons of muffin batter and 1 more teaspoon of cranberry sauce. The muffin liners should be about 2/3 full.
- Bake the muffins for 15-18 minutes, until the centers are just set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly.
- Serve warm slathered with butter or salted honey butter (yum!). Enjoy!
Notes
- Storage: Leftover cranberry cornbread muffins will keep, stored in an airtight container at room temperature, for up to 1 week. You can also freeze baked cornbread muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator & reheat in the microwave before serving.
- Portions: As written, this cranberry cornbread recipe yields a large batch of 20-22 muffins, up to 15 as a side dish. For a different sized crowd:
- Scaled down: To serve up to 8 as a side dish, halve the recipe, yielding 10-11 muffins.
- Make it a mini: To serve a cozy crowd of up to 4, quarter the recipe, yielding 5-6 muffins.
- Make it a loaf: If you prefer to make a loaf vs individual muffins, you can definitely bake cranberry cornbread instead of cranberry cornbread muffins. Add the batter to a greased 9×13 baking dish, then swirl the cranberry all throughout it. Bake for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.