Carol's Corner: Muffins for Valentine’s Day? Yes!

Cranberry sauce, it’s not just for the holidays anymore.Here’s a muffin recipe with a cranberry sauce center that’s good all year round.

Why not make some for Valentine’s Day weekend? In fact, if you still have some leftover cranberry sauce from the holidays, you might want to clean out your refrigerator. Then buy some more cranberry sauce for this recipe, get some sliced almonds, sour cream, not to mention all the other ingredients, and you’ll be good to go.

Whenever I use canned cranberry sauce I add a couple of secret ingredients to perk it up a little. I’m all for perking things up. 

 Cranberry Almond Muffins

 Preheat oven to 375°

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 large eggs
¼ cup butter, melted
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp almond extract
¾ cup sliced almonds, divided
½ can whole berry cranberry sauce
2 Tb. orange juice
⅓ cup dried cherries

 Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a sifter and set aside.

 Beat together eggs, melted butter, sour cream and almond extract in a large bowl, just until mixed.

Stir ½ cup almonds into egg mixture.

 Sift dry ingredients onto egg mixture and stir well to combine. 

 In a separate bowl stir orange juice and dried cherries into cranberry sauce.

 Spoon, or glop, about two Tbs. of batter into each greased, small muffin tin. Glop about one Tb of cranberry sauce onto each one and then cover them with the remaining batter.

 Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining almonds.

 Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Makes 8-10 small muffins or 6 medium muffins.

Happy baking!

Download the movie