Gluten-Free Cranberry Orange Muffins
These gluten-free muffins are moist, soft & fluffy and so delicious! Each bite is the perfect balance of sweet + tart with a fabulous creamy orange flavor and lots of cranberries! The optional Orange Glaze drizzle makes them extra festive and yummy! Super quick + easy recipe!
Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
Cranberry Orange Muffins
- 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour with xanthan gum we used GFJules - affiliate link
- 1 cup granulated cane sugar
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter or dairy-free butter room temperature
- 6 tablespoons orange juice we used juice from the oranges I zested
- 7 tablespoons milk we used 1%
- 1 tablespoon orange zest (grated orange rind)
- 1 large egg (whisked)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (skip if nut-free)
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- turbinado sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Orange Glaze (optional)
- 1 cup confectioners (powdered) sugar
- 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
Instructions
Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tins with paper liners
- Place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with a pastry cutter or fork.
- Cut in butter using the pastry cutter until the mixture resembles a coarse cornmeal.
- In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, add the orange juice, milk, orange zest and the beaten egg. Whisk to combine.
- Pour liquid mixture all at once into the dry ingredients and mix just enough to dampen fully.
- Carefully fold in the nuts and cranberries. Batter is thick.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffins tins (batter is thick and they will fill just over the top). Top with an additional cranberry or two as desired. Top with turbinado sugar for that bakery look and a touch of sweetness if not using the orange glaze (optional)
- Bake for 20-25 mins, until golden on top and a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Check at 20 mins and covering loosely with foil if top golden but a center not done for an additional 5 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on metal rack.
- Enjoy as is or drizzle the orange glaze.
Orange Glaze
- Whisk confectioners sugar ingredients together.
- Drizzle glaze over cooled muffins. Enjoy!
Notes
Storing: Muffins without glaze stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1-2 days or covered in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Cover and store muffins with glaze at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
If freezing, freeze un-glazed and glaze before serving to be freshest.
Tried this recipe?Mention @HealthyGFFamily or tag #HealthyGFFamily!
Made these Cranberry Orange Muffins yesterday for breakfast. Delicious and this is coming from someone who does not really like cranberries but my husband does. Since going gluten-free a couple of years ago, finding tasty muffin and biscuit recipes has been hard.
So happy you enjoyed them! Thank you!
Made these muffins a couple weeks ago and I will be making them again soon. The combination of cranberry and orange is fantastic. I’ve always loved it but most recipes don’t let the orange flavor shine through. This is different though, you get a nice orange flavor as well as the tart cranberry. I always use GFJules flour and once again, it held up and stayed moist, no crumbly muffins! Thanks, Karen, for a great recipe!!
Thank you so much! So happy you love the muffins as much as we do! And we too are grateful for GFJules flour!
These muffins were amazing! I completely forgot to glaze them but they didn’t need it with the turbinado sugar. The muffins were good piping hot and then we had leftovers for the next two days. (I kept the leftovers on the counter, uncovered.) They were perfect! The tops of the muffins were crunchy like a sugar cookie! I’m only sorry that cranberry season is over! I’m wondering what to substitute for the cranberries – maybe rhubarb?
Happy you loved the muffins! I’ve never made this muffin base with other fruits or berries but rhubarb sounds great as it is also tart. You may also enjoy our Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins or Blueberry Muffins.