Cream Cheese Cranberry Muffins

Moist and full of cranberries. Sweet with just enough tartness! Easy to make! These muffins are light and tasty and they freeze very well. I found the recipe in Christmas edition magazine from Dec 06 and just tried them last week. I have made them twice now! We all love them. I omit the pecans as my husband cannot eat nuts and we do not miss them!

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Yields: 24 muffins

Ingredients

• 1  cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4  eggs
• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2  cups cranberries (I just use a whole 12 oz. bag, fresh or frozen, if frozen, do not thaw)
• 1⁄2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened.
4. Fold in cranberries and pecans.
5. (I put the cranberries in the food processor the first time I made them and this last time I just rough chopped them).
6. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.
7. Bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes or until a tooth-pick comes out clean.
8. Cool for 5 minutes before moving to wire racks.