These Cranberry and White Chocolate Streusel Muffins are soft, tender and packed with oozing white chocolate and tart fresh cranberries. Finished off with a crunchy oat streusel, these are just perfect for an afternoon snack… Or breakfast!
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Hi friends!! I really hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving. (If you celebrate!)
I loved seeing the different ways people celebrate on my Instagram feed. All kinds of amazing food and decorations!
And now? CHRISTMAS! 😀 😀
I am SO excited; there are just so many things I want to make, my mind has been fit to burst with things I want to make. Of course, December would need to be about a million days long in order for me to have time to make everything!
Do you have that problem too? I mean, really, it’s a good problem to have, if I was sat here like “I have nothing.” then this blog would be pretty boring!
I have Christmas Granola, a Mint Chocolate Brownie Crumb Cake, Homemade Eggnog and all kinds of other treats headed your way over the next few weeks! Fat pants at the ready!
Today, we are kicking things off with these awesome, soft, tender, tart, juicy, crunchy, oozing Cranberry and White Chocolate Streusel Muffins!
Boyfriend approved of course!
I LOVE cranberries and as soon as they come out, I stock up! I’m the mad cranberry lady 😉
But I figure you would get so bored of them if I posted nothing but cranberry recipes for the next 3 weeks.
To be honest, I almost did that with mint chocolate when I was planning what to make this month.
I’d like to think I’ve got a pretty good balance, but I’ll let you tell me otherwise!
Now. Muffins.
December is the only time that chocolate is acceptable for breakfast right? Well, personally, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve found myself snacking on a cookie at 9am whilst shooting, but in the real world I guess it’s frowned upon.
However, it’s officially December, so now you can go crazy and eat these muffins every day.
I used chocolate chunks over chips, so that you get pockets of melted, oozing chocolate and used a variety of whole and sliced cranberries; depending on how big they were.
Some of my cranberries looked like they’d been on steroids.
As for the muffin mix itself, I kept it pretty plain; using buttermilk, a mix of light and brown sugars and a little oil.
I always like to use a mixture of oil and butter in my muffins, I like the moisture oil gives and the flavour the butter gives. However, I’m not the world’s biggest butter fan, so for me, if I use all butter, I find it a bit much.
I tossed the white chocolate and cranberries in with the flour to ensure they didn’t sink, then added a pinch of salt and some baking powder to make sure they rose to perfection!
These muffins have such a good crumb. They are light and tender, no soggy, dense muffins here! You don’t need a mixer at all, in fact the less stirring the better!
I find that I get the best results with my muffins if I put them in a slightly hotter oven than you would with a cake/cupcake. I put them in at 190C/375F and it gives them that lovely domed top. The dome was slightly less on these, as the streusel topping gave them some weight, but they still looked like good muffins!
Let’s talk about that streusel topping actually. There are only 4 ingredients; butter, oats, light brown sugar and flour. Butter which has been out of the fridge for around 10 minutes is best, as it’s soft enough to rub between your fingers, but not almost melted – which would make a soggy streusel.
All you do is rub the mix together until you have crumbly, oaty, sugary lumps – Some small and some big lumps are absolutely perfect, the contrast adds to the texture.
The crunch against the softness of the muffin and then the bursts of tart cranberries and creamy white chocolate is just mind blowing.
You need these muffins TODAY!
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Cranberry and White Chocolate Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
- For the streusel topping:
- 1/2 stick (56g) unsalted butter, left out of the fridge for 10 mins
- 1 cup (80g) rolled oats
- 1/4 cup (35g) plain flour
- 3 tbsp light brown sugar
- For the muffins:
- 2 1/2 cups (350g) plain flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 cup (100g) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar
- 1 cup (175g) white chocolate chunks
- 1 cup (90g) fresh cranberries, whole and sliced depending on how big they are
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (123g) buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F and grease a 12 hole muffin tin (you may have enough mixture for another 2 muffins).
- Make the streusel topping first: Place butter, oats, flour and sugar into a medium sized bowl and rub between your fingers until everything combines and you have a crumbly mix with some small and some larger lumps. Leave to one side.
- Place flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and sugars into a large bowl and stir to combine. Add in the white chocolate and cranberries and stir until they're all coated in flour.
- Place vanilla extract, eggs, vegetable oil, melted butter and buttermilk into a large jug and beat lightly with a fork.
- Pour wet ingredients over dry and mix just until there are no lumps of flour, don't beat or be tempted to keep mixing, you'll end up with rubbery muffins!
- Divide the mixture between your greased muffin tin, fill each hole level.
- Sprinkle around 1/2tbsp of streusel mix onto each muffin and press into the muffins ever so slightly.
- Place in the oven for 17-23 minutes, until risen, golden and an inserted skewer into the centre comes out clean. (Be careful not to hit white chocolate - it can look the same colour as the muffins making you think they're not done!)
- Leave to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cooled muffins will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 5 days.
Notes
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer, who has an obsession with dessert and beauty! 
