Butternut Squash Muffins With Cranberries

Lennie's Note:

Tore this recipe out of an old calendar and recently found the clipping -- haven't made them but they sure sound good, so I thought I'd share!

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 muffins

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon mace
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cooked mashed butternut squash (or pureed)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup canola oil (or any vegetable oil)
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F; spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray, or use paper liners; set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk together the squash, egg, oil and milk.
4. Add the wet ingredients all at once into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined; it's important NOT to overmix.
5. Fold in the cranberries.
6. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake in preheated oven for 16 to 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.
7. Cool muffins on wire racks.

Reviews

[Cara Lee]

DELICIOUS! Even picky hubby loved them. I doubled it, cut out 1/4 c of sugar, used 1.5 cups white flour, and 3 cups of wheat flour. Next time, I'd like to try more cranberries and figure out how to substitute honey for the sugar, and use coconut oil - just for a healthier muffin. Doubled, this recipe made 32 muffins! Perfect for our large family!

[Pinkytz]

Very moist and fluffy. Would be great with nuts added too, or some coconut. Like others I also substituted applesauce for some of the oil and used about 1/2 C. whole wheat flour in place of 1/2 C. of white flour. The recipe made 15 good sized muffins. Will definitely use this recipe again.

[PioneerValleyGirl]

Tasty muffins! Like others, I substituted apple sauce (homemade, unsweetened) for most of the oil, I also used left over acorn squash instead of butternut, and sub'ed whole wheat for 1 cup of the flour. In spite of all the changes, they still baked up nice and light. I really like the tartness of the cranberries, so I'll probably increase to more than a cup in the future, though that's a matter of personal taste.