Cranberry Millet Muffins

A muffin can really make my day, ya know. I am a coffee, tea and bread kind of girl. And when the bread offers a little something special, like muffins do, you have a happy camper here! That's why my freezer is so often overflowing with frozen baked goods.We can't eat them fast enough so we keep 'em stocked and fresh until we are ready to thaw and eat. I make and make for my little family until they fall out when we open the freezer door. I love baking and eating the stuff, what can I say!?

The problem with this is that grains are often addicting or even damaging when over consumed. Why is it that we are drawn towards addiction of certain foods!? Is it the comfort or the composition that keeps us coming back for more? (I hope that you relate with me here.....and that I'm not just preaching to myself!)

That's why it is so important to adopt healthy ideas, tastes and habits when it comes to eating especially the grains. Growing up, my family always had a loaf of bread on the table even when the main meal being served was pasta. Now if that isn't grain heavy, I don't know what is! No offense Mom, you did an awesome job at feeding us real foods with all your homemade meals!

It took me time to change my thoughts on what a meal or snack should be. Now my little muffins are often baked mini or at least with the realest, most nourishing ingredients I can pack into their cute little cups! I still adore them, they still come tumbling from my freezer. But, I am sure to enjoy every morsel because I know the rest of the meal will not be a bakery good!

These! That's all I have to say. Winter, spring, summer, fall. These cranberry muffins with an interesting little crunch are some of my 'go tos'. I love them and so do my girls. The cranberries offer some wonderful antioxident power and the mix of wet and dry ingedients make for a moist, appropriately dense and pleasingly textured muffin. So, yes, these are where it's at when it comes to real food muffin lovin'!

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or I often just use whole wheat)
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
⅓ cup millet (I like to make this heaping because we love the crunch!)
2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup plus 2 Tbs unsalted, organic (I prefer pastured) butter, room temperature.
1 ½ cups sugar of your choice. I recommend organic coconut sugar
2 large eggs (I used the flax substitute—which is 1 Tbs pf flax soaked a few minutes in 2 Tbs water)
1 to 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract (optional--if you choose this option, use just 1 tsp vanilla)
½ cup of milk of your choice. I often choose plain, unsweetened almond for this recipe.

Recipe Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat standard 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. In a meduim bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and millet. In another bowl, toss cranberries with about 2 t. of the flour mixture to lightly coat.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on med. high until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla and almond.
With mixer on low, add flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add milk, beating until just combined. Do not overmix.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in cranberries. Spoon into muffin pan, I like to use my large cookie scoop, heaping.
Bake until muffins are golden brown and a ckae tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn muffins on their sides in their cups and let cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature.