Cranberry Orange Walnut Muffins
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Rise and shine with these tangy and sweet baked Cranberry Orange Walnut Muffins! Baked with orange juice and orange extract, these muffins are tender and crunchy in every bite! This recipe can be made into 12 muffins or 1 bread loaf pan.

If your’e here for just the recipe….scroll down, but I feel compelled to share a little about this recipe beforehand to those who want to read 🙂
In 2012 we took our family on a road trip vacation to Maine and then returned again in 2018 while on our 4,000+ mile, 16 day road trip up the east coast of USA through the border to New Brunswick and Québec, Canada to the Gaspésie Peninsula.
In 2012, I snapped the most memorable photo I have ever taken (and unfortunately, due to our house fire, I don’t know where the original is saved…so thanks to Facebook for keeping the image safe for me…even if it is a blurry download!) My hubby was scaling the big boulders with our 2 year old son during a GORGEOUS sunset at the Bass Harbor Lighthouse at Mount Desert in Acadia National Park, Maine. I remember this moment like it was yesterday. It was just a moment of feeling so grown up and yet so young all at the same time and it just left such an imprint on my heart.

And, while I’m at it…this was another photo that I just adore (again, blurry, but at least I have a copy from Facebook!) My little man, tossing rocks into the cove! It was just magical.

Why not one more memory for my own sake…when I come back to make this recipe again…lol. My girlie and I at Thunder Hole, Acadia National Park.

Although we have taken our kids to amazing places like Germany, France, Austria, Canada and most of the USA, this vacation to Maine still remains my most favorite vacation of all time. We tent camped, hiked all over Acadia National Park, had to pay by the minute for showers, visited Bar Harbor, and soooo much more! {If you know us, our vacations are non-stop}. There was something just so fairytale about it. I have always thought that I was a mountains girl…but I equally love the ocean just as much. And although we’ve lived in 3 states that had both, the mountains in Maine are ON the ocean! It’s no secret that I love Maine, and my family knows that I long to live there…like so bad! But, we chose to make the move to Wisconsin from the beautiful North Carolina to be closer to family…so Maine has to remain one of my favorite vacation spots at this time.
Whenever we travel, I always, like for real, always, buy a cookbook with local recipes from the area we are visiting. I have an entire shelf full of cookbooks from all over the world at at this point! So, the other day when my son asked for me to make orange muffins, I knew just the place to look for a recipe! My cookbook from Maine!

Let’s Make These Cranberry Orange Walnut Muffins Together!
I modified a few things from the original recipe, that was intended for a bread, and I’m really happy with how they turned out!

In a large bowl, combine sugar and flour

In a measuring cup or small bowl, combine egg and orange juice

Pour egg mixture into flour mixture

Using a spatula, stir together, but do not over mix.

Add in orange extract

Add cranberries
This next step is optional…if you like walnuts or are not allergic, then add them! They give the muffins a delicious crunch!

Rough chop walnuts

Add the walnuts to the batter

Fill lined muffin tins 3/4 of the way full and bake
These muffins were really yummy! Next time, I plan to make the recipe as a bread loaf. Mmmm, how I love bread!

Cranberry Orange Muffins with Walnuts
Ingredients
- 2 c flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 c sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c orange juice
- 1 tbs orange extract
- 2 tbs butter, melted
- 2 tbs hot water
- 1 c dried cranberries
- 1 c walnuts, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine egg, orange juice, orange extract, and butter. Mix.
- Add hot water to the egg mixture.
- Fold in dry ingredients just enough to combine. Do not over mix or heat the batter.
- Gently fold in cranberries and walnuts.
- Spoon into muffin pan lined with muffin papers.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are slightly golden and a toothpick stuck in the middle of a muffin comes out clean
More Delicious Bread Recipes!
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Greek Yogurt
Baked Oatmeal with Strawberries, Bananas and Chocolate Chips



Heya,
In this recipe, the instructions say to combine the egg but the ingredient list does list eggs. How many shall I add?
Thank you,
Olivia
Your recipe ingredients list left out “egg”. However, the instruction portion in step #4 mentioned combining “egg” with the other liquid ingredients. I caught it in time, but I was disappointed because I had used another receipe the day before that also left out key ingredients that I did not catch and those muffins were a disaster. Lots of good stuff, lost to the garbage. So, while I think these muffins will be great (they’re still baking”, I sure don’t want someone else to lose all their work to the waste can. Thanks, Susan
Oh my goodness! Thank you, Susan for catching my mistake! I greatly appreciate you bringing that to my attention. I have corrected the recipe – it is 1 egg. Thanks again!