Chronicles of a Late Bloomer

How good were these muffins on Saturday morning? Here, I’ll help you out with this one: THEY WERE SO GOOD. Also, according to my calculations, they whittled down to a measly 170 calories, 3 grams of fat, 3.5 grams fiber, and 5.6 grams of protein (3 Weight Watcher Points) each. Not bad for JUMBO muffins. No little puny cupcakes here. These muffins were big time.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

• 100 grams (about 1 cup) frozen cranberries
  
• 1 cup water (for the cranberries)
  
• 3 oranges, peeled and segmented¹
  
• 2 eggs beaten²
  
• 185 grams (about 1.5 cups) Trader Joe’s Multigrain Baking Mix
  

A few notes before I give you the instructions:

I hope you all have the good fortune of having access to a local Trader Joe’s grocery store. Though they get a little crazy with the packaging materials (and therefore score very low on the eco-friendly meter), they really do seem to strive for interesting, healthful foods. By this, I don’t mean low-calorie foods. I just mean whole, healthy, good foods. Anyway, this baking mix is pretty great. It’s hearty and contains lots of different grains. I also love the dramatic lighting in that photo! Trust me, it was a Saturday afternoon accident.

If you’ve never used fresh or frozen cranberries, you’re in for a treat. I usually stock up on them at Thanksgiving/Christmas time and keep them in the freezer, piecing away at them through the year in muffins, pancakes, cookies, and smoothies. To prepare them for the muffins (or any other baked goods), place the cranberries with the water in your intended mixing bowl. Put them in the microwave for around 2 minutes or until the berries start to “pop” (they swell and crack open, making them more edible and digestible). Then, let this mixture cool briefly while you slice and segment the oranges. I add the orange segments whole to the cranberry mixture, since the mixing breaks them up a bit and I prefer big, juicy bites.

Add the baking mix and the beaten egg(s). Mix only until you’ve just moistened the dry ingredients. Then, spoon the entire mixture into a muffin tin. I managed to get it all into my jumbo muffin tin (6 muffin cups). Then I baked them at 350 “until they’re done” (I’d say it was around 25 or 30 minutes, but I tested them with my finger until they sprang back and were slightly browned.)

Delicious.

1. Instructions here and here, if you don’t know how. Free yourselves from the syrup-y tyranny of canned mandarin oranges! [↩]
2. Next time, I think I’ll try it with one egg and see if it makes the recipe more light. [↩]