Make sweet holiday memories with the New England flavors in these easy Christmas Muffins. I mix in festive eggnog and sweetened cranberry sauce for spiced, fruity treats at breakfast and brunch. Everyone devours them!
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One of the best parts of the Christmas season is making recipes that make every meal feel festive and special. Like making a feast for dinner or baking indulgently sweet desserts.
And breakfast? Easy Christmas breakfast ideas are the best, so you can spend more time around the tree, or get ready for a day of shopping, and spend less time at the oven.
We love these eggnog cranberry muffins on the holiday morning: they come together quickly and are so delicious. They're our Christmas Muffins!
In a nutshell... 🐿️
- What this is: Festive muffins that hold a taste of New England: ruby-red, tart cranberries (a Massachusetts crop!) and rich, spiced holiday eggnog.
- You'll love this part: The cranberry muffins are quick to pull together, perfect for holiday mornings with the family.
- How it's made: Fold wet and dry ingredients together, top the batter with cranberry sauce, then bake until golden.
Jump to:
Holidays in New England are cranberry red
Drive through the South Shore area of Massachusetts and as you pass fields along the road, you may spot low channels in the ground filled with scrubby bushes. You're in cranberry country!
Massachusetts is the second largest grower of cranberries in the country, and the fruit has been enjoyed in New England for centuries, including in Native American communities.
Cranberries are delicious throughout the year—fresh or dried or juiced, simmered into sauces and relishes, mixed into cocktails, and sprinkled over salads. But New England cranberries really show off and shine during the holidays.
The beautiful crimson red color of cranberries gleams during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Bowls of cranberry sauce on the Thanksgiving table. Strings of cranberries and popcorn on evergreen trees illuminated with lights. Ruby red holiday drinks made with cranberry juice. Cocktails chilled with cranberry-studded ice cubes and garnished with sugar-rolled cranberries. And cranberries floating with cinnamon sticks in steaming kettles of of hot apple cider.
And of course, there are our favorite holiday bakes filled with fresh and dried cranberries. That tart flavor is perfect to balance out the sweet ingredients in breads and pies. And in muffins, like these sweet eggnog muffins topped with cranberry sauce.
Yes, the holidays in New England are indeed cranberry red!
Ho ho ho!
Christmas Rice Krispie Treats
Everyone's favorite, marshmallow treat, dipped in chocolate and decorated for the holidays!
Why you'll love these Christmas Muffins
Homemade muffins will quickly make a hero of you in the eyes of everyone in your household. Christmas cranberry muffins are soft and fragrant, absolutely delicious when toasted, and spread with butter.
The cranberry sauce in these eggnog muffins gives a sweet-tart bite to the soft, sweet nutmeg-scented cake. It's a fun way to wrap those holiday flavors into something new.
To make the cranberry muffins with cranberry sauce for Christmas mornings (or any morning during the holiday season) you can pull the batter together in less than 20 minutes, and they bake up in about 15 minutes. The batter can also be refrigerated overnight and baked up in the morning while you open presents.
My Christmas morning muffins recipe is featured in the Taste of Home Christmas 2015 Cookbook (as Cranberry Eggnog Muffins,) so it's been vetted by the Test Kitchen at Taste Of Home!
Grinchy good!
Who Hash
Roast beef and potato hash; what a tasty breakfast or brunch dish for all your little Whos!
🔪 How to Make this Easy Christmas Muffins recipe
Ingredients:
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour for the holiday muffin recipe; my preferred brand is King Arthur Baking Company flour.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar gives the muffins a clean sweetness so that the other flavors can shine.
- Baking powder: A leavening agent, baking powder activates twice: once when mixed with wet ingredients and again in the heat of the oven. It helps give the muffins a light texture.
- Salt: Just a pinch of salt in the batter helps elevate the flavors of all the ingredients.
- Cinnamon: I like the spicy flavor Vietnamese cinnamon, but any type of cinnamon will do. Check the expiration date; old cinnamon won't have the good flavor of fresh.
- Egg: Use large eggs for this recipe, from local farmers whenever possible. Letting the eggs come to room temperature (or warming them in warm water) is a smart way to get more consistent results in your baking.
- Eggnog: You'll see eggnog appear in store dairy cases as early as September! The good news that it usually has a long window before expiring; but doublecheck that when you buy it. The richness makes the muffins tender. Use any flavor you like, such as golden, vanilla, or cinnamon.
- Butter: Use a good quality butter for the best flavor in the cranberry Christmas Muffins. The brands I like are Vermont's Cabot Creamery, Kate's brand of Maine, or Ireland's Kerrygold.
- Cranberry sauce: Try any kind of cranberry sauce you'd like here, such as whole berry, homemade, or canned. Bonus points if your cranberry sauce is made with New England-grown cranberries, like those from the Massachusetts grower, Hartley Family Farm!
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Make the batter
Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl whisk the dry ingredients together. Stir the dry into the wet mixture using as few strokes as possible. (As over-mixing can ruin your muffins.)
Fill the muffin cups
Divide the batter between the 12 wells in the muffin tin, which you've lined with paper liners. Swirl a few spoonfuls of cranberry sauce into the top of each muffin
Bake the muffins
Bake the muffins until a tester comes out clean. Then enjoy them warm or cooled!
Into the bog!
Tour a Massachusetts Cranberry Farm
I visited and waded into a real cranberry bog located along the Massachusetts south shore.
Christmas Muffins FAQs
Yes, you can make Christmas Muffin batter ahead of time. The recipe uses baking powder, which reacts not only with the wet ingredients but also with heat from the oven, so your batter will still rise well the next morning.
Cover the bowl of muffin batter tightly and refrigerate it overnight. (Keep the cranberry sauce stored in a separate bowl.) The next morning, follow the directions to spoon the batter into muffin cups, add cranberry sauce and sugar, and bake.
Beginning the Christmas Muffin recipe with room-temperature ingredients is one way to get better texture in the baked muffins. To help speed it along, you can warm up the egg in warm water and warm up the eggnog in short bursts in the microwave.
The secrets to moist muffins like these winter muffins is to mixing and baking them properly. Overmixing will create a touch texture. To avoid this, mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, then gently fold them together with just a few strokes. Use paper liners to help hold moisture in during baking. Begin testing the muffins for doneness a few minutes early, so that they don't overbake and dry out.
Yes, these holiday cranberry muffins can be baked up as mini muffins. Just divide the batter between lined wells in a mini muffin tin. Swirl a little cranberry sauce into each, and then bake; begin checking them for doneness after 10 minutes.
Yes, these perfect Christmas Muffins can definitely be frozen! Let them cool completely, then slide the muffins into a resealable freezer-proof bag and press out all the air. Freeze the muffins for up to three months. Let them thaw in the fridge, still inside the bag.
Tips:
- Use the minimum strokes necessary to bring the Christmas day muffins batter together. A few streaks of flour are okay. Over-mixing this batter will lead to muffins that are dense and tough.
- You can use whatever cranberry sauce you have on hand: homemade or store-bought, with or without whole berries.
The recipe for spiced, festive Christmas Muffins is below! And here are a few other cranberry recipes to tempt you in any season:
💬 Did you make and devour this recipe? Leave a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Christmas Muffins
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Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 cup eggnog, room temperature
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 1 cup cranberry sauce, room temperature (homemade or store-bought)
- optional sparkling decorating sugar
Instructions
Mix the batter:
- Preheat the oven to 400° F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray or use paper liners.
- In a large bowl mix together the 2 cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, mix together 1 egg, room temperature, 1 cup eggnog, room temperature, and ¼ cup butter, melted.
- Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just moistened (use as few strokes as possible, some lumps are okay.)
Add to the muffin cups:
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.
- For the 1 cup cranberry sauce, room temperaturese a teaspoon to add a few dollops of cranberry sauce into each muffin.
- Pull the spoon or a clean knife through each cup once or twice to swirl the sauce into the batter. If desired, sprinkle optional sparkling decorating sugar over the tops.
Bake:
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the muffins are starting to brown and a tester inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Serve while warm.
To store:
- Once the muffins are cool, they can be stored in an airtight container for 1 to 2 days.
Notes
- Use the minimum strokes necessary to bring the muffin batter together. A few streaks of flour are okay. Over-mixing this batter will lead to muffins that are dense and tough.
- You can use whatever cranberry sauce you have on hand: homemade or store-bought, with or without whole berries.
Nutrition
Nancy Mock says
Thank you Karen!
Karen Jones Gowen says
They are very pretty! I'll bet they are delicious.