Cranberry Almond Crumb Muffins

Who doesn’t love a warm, home-baked muffin? You can take muffins from good to great with a few simple steps:

All ingredients should be at room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately and then combine them just to mix. Over-mixing muffins makes them tough, crumbly and riddled with air pockets. Gently fold in any additions (nuts, raisins, etc.) at the end.

For light and airy muffins, bake the batter immediately. If batter sits unbaked the leavening power of the baking soda or baking powder will diminish, making a heavy, dense muffin.

Crisco® No-Stick Cooking Spray makes muffins release easily from the tin. If you like to use paper liners, spray them, too, to avoid the muffin sticking to the paper.

To make muffins a uniform size, use an ice cream scoop or measuring cup to evenly portion the batter. A mini muffin cup holds about 2 tablespoons of batter. A standard muffin tin holds about 1/2 cup.

Muffins freeze beautifully when well wrapped in foil and placed inside a re-sealable plastic bag.

You can also freeze the batter for quick and easy muffins any time. Portion the batter into foil baking cups. Freeze them in the tins. Once frozen, remove them from the tins and store the unbaked muffins in a large re-sealable bag marked with the baking directions. Pop the frozen muffins back in the tins before baking. Add 10 minutes to the bake time of frozen, unbaked muffins.

Try these other favorite muffins recipes:

Apple Cinnamon Whole Wheat Muffins

Peanut Butter and Jam Muffins

Gingerbread Muffins