Cranberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fresh cranberries! Ahh…I love cranberry season. I miss being able to drive through cranberry country when we lived in Boston. I grabbed several bags of cranberries right before Thanksgiving when they went on sale and have had fun dreaming up all of the cranberry-filled dishes that I might make with them.

I decided it would be fun to kick off December with these bad boys — cranberry chocolate chip muffins. It doesn’t get much better than these. They offer the perfect balance of tart and sweet. Whip up a batch of these to enjoy this week, or maybe make a couple dozen for when family comes into town for the holidays.

What to make next? Hmm…I’m thinking cranberry orange bread. Yes…

Ingredients:

• 2¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup milk
• 5 1/3 Tbs. unsalted butter (melted)
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1½ cups coarsely chopped cranberries
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
3. In a mixing bowl, stir flour, baking powder and salt to combine.
4. In another mixing bowl, mix 1 cup of the sugar, eggs, milk, melted butter and almond extract.  Stir until well blended.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients.
6. Toss the chopped cranberries and mini chocolate chips in and fold into the batter.
7. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin liners, filling them about two thirds of the way full.
8. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are slightly golden and pass the toothpick test.