Buttery and moist, these cranberry dark chocolate muffins are perfect in flavour and bursting with cranberries in each bite.

With the holiday season fully among us now, everything has shifted from pumpkin pie and apple spice to cranberry and gingerbread everything. I find that cranberries are heavily under rated but they provide such a tart wonderful flavour in these muffins. Cranberries deserves some love too! Now typically cranberry pairs nicely with orange but orange is not yet in season where I live so I thought a bitter dark chocolate with cranberry would pair amazingly. I’m thinking of those chocolate covered fruit from Brookeside (if you know you know), is where I got the inspiration for this muffins.

You do not need to soak the cranberries before baking. Just add the frozen cranberries into the batter. The tartness of the cranberries helps balance the sweetness of the dark chocolate and muffin. You might want to give them a gentle toss with flour to reduce the chance of them sinking to the bottom of the muffin.

Don’t have frozen or fresh cranberries? Use dried cranberries! If you are making these where cranberries are not in season or you have a difficult time finding them, you can use dried cranberries. You will just need to use a little less. You’ll need ½ cup of dried cranberries for this recipe.

Add these to your breakfast rotation throughout the week or having them for an afternoon snack. They are simply delicious!

16 servings / 20 mins prep time / 40 mins total time

Ingredients

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

½ cup yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1¾ cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ salt

¾ cup fresh or frozen cranberries

¾ cup dark chocolate chunks

¼ cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugars (white and brown) until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, yogurt and vanilla extract and mix until combined and uniform in texture.

In a separate medium bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, give a gentle mix. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients along with the cranberries and dark chocolate chunks, mix until combined.

Add the milk and mix until combined and the flour is no longer visible. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling ¾ of the way. Bake for 20 mins, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool and enjoy!