Orange Cranberry Sourdough Muffins
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Make these easy sourdough orange and cranberry muffins using your sourdough discard. With a moist and tender crumb, they make the perfect make ahead Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast on a cold morning with just the right combination of winter flavors!
Full of delicious orange zest, fresh orange juice and tangy cranberries, these muffins are extra moist due to the grated apple included in the ingredients and therefore make a great breakfast treat!
You can choose to serve them with or without the orange glaze (I like to keep them plain for kids snacks).
Use fresh cranberries or dried cranberries. I have used dried cranberries in this post because fresh are not readily available in my part of the world. Another recipe that uses this flavor combination is this fragrant orange cranberry sourdough bread.
If you're looking for other muffin recipes using sourdough starter discard then you might like to try these sourdough pumpkin muffins, sourdough lemon muffins, chocolate chunk sourdough muffins or even these overnight fermented sourdough blueberry muffins.
How To Make Cranberry Orange Sourdough Muffins
Making sourdough muffins is relatively easy, you just need to combine the wet ingredients and dry ingredients in the right order and voila, a tasty bakery treat awaits!
You don't even need an electric mixer or food processor for this recipe! Mixing the ingredients together with a whisk, fork or spoon is totally fine!
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F and grease a 12 hole muffin tin with butter.
- Mix the sourdough starter, eggs, orange juice, vanilla extract and oil in a small bowl. Whisk together until well combined.
- In a separate bowl mix together orange zest, cranberries, green apple, sugar, all purpose flour, salt and baking powder.
- Now pour the liquid ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients. Gently fold together until just mixed - don't over mix or the muffins will be tough.
- Spoon mixture into a muffin tin greased with butter. For standard size muffins, this recipe will fill a 12 hole muffin (each hole around ¾ full). For larger muffins, use a 6 hole, large muffin tin.
- Bake at 200C/400F for approximately 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
Tips for Making Muffins with Sourdough Discard
Muffins are so easy to bake, but when using sourdough discard or unfed sourdough starter, there are a few things you can do to ensure you bake the most moist muffin possible!
- Don't use old sourdough discard. You can use sourdough discard that has been stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- Don't use sourdough discard that has formed hooch - it will be too overpowering in this recipe.
- Don't be frightened to use fresh, active sourdough starter in this recipe - especially if you want to make the batter and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
- Make sure that your starter is at least 7 days old and smells good before you start using the discard in sourdough discard recipes.
Ingredient Substitutions
These orange cranberry sourdough muffins work perfectly, just as they are, but there might be times when you need to substitute ingredients, or make them suit what's in your pantry! So here are a few ingredients you can substitute with no issues:
- Cranberries can be fresh or dried. Frozen will also work just as well, just like they do in this sourdough cranberry cake.
- Blueberries can also be used in place of cranberries.
- You can use store bought orange juice if you prefer.
- Vegetable oil can be replaced with coconut oil if you prefer.
- You can use any sugar you have on hand. I've used fine white sugar but you can use brown sugar, coconut sugar or anything similar.
- If you don't have fresh apple, you can replace with 100g unsweetened applesauce.
Recipe Variations
If you want to add some extra yum to these deliciously easy muffins, why not try one of these combinations:
- Orange Pistachio Sourdough Muffins - add 100g of chopped pistachio nuts to the mixture. You can leave the cranberries in or take them out (it's up to you).
- Plain Orange Sourdough Muffins - leave out the cranberries and enjoy the zestiness in all it's glory! For maximum orange flavor double the zest included in the recipe. These are similar to my sourdough lemon muffins.
- Oatmeal Cranberry Sourdough Muffins - add 100g of rolled oats to the mixture and increase the orange juice to 100g. Sprinkle some rolled oats onto the muffins before you bake them.
- For a quick bread, why not bake the muffin batter in a loaf pan for a simple orange cranberry sourdough quick bread. It's delicious served with this whipped honey cinnamon butter! I also love adding a teaspoon or two of cinnamon to the muffin batter for this version.
What To Serve With Orange Cranberry Sourdough Muffins
These muffins are perfect just as they are - or with a little dusting of powdered sugar, but I also love to serve them with a simple glaze or even frosting for something more decadent! And I love to add a dehydrated orange slice for some extra pizzaz too!
Dehydrated oranges are so easy! Just slice up fresh oranges and lay them on your dehydrator tray. Dry them for around 12 hours at 37C or until completely dried through. They are perfect for garnishes on muffins and cakes and look fantastic in cocktails too (hello Christmas!).
Here are my fave ways to serve orange cranberry sourdough muffins:
- Top with a simple glaze (you can make a simple orange glaze by combining powdered sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice until it forms a thickened consistency).
- Serve with lashings of vanilla cream cheese frosting (this one is from my sourdough cinnamon rolls).
- Pop a dish of whipped cinnamon honey butter or cultured butter next to these and wait for the compliments!
- This spiced pumpkin cream cheese also tastes incredible served with these muffins.
How To Store + Freeze
Freeze - these muffins can be frozen and last very well in the freezer. Cool them completely before storing in an airtight plastic container or ziploc bag and placing into the freezer for up to 4 months.
Store - these muffins last up to 3 days in an airtight container. Make sure they are completely cool before you place them into the container. They can be "refreshed" by zapping them in the microwave for up to 30 seconds to soften.
If you have stale muffins, instead of throwing them away, why not use them as the base to a bread pudding.
Useful Sourdough Resources
If you are new to sourdough and still in the establishment phase of your sourdough starter, these resources might be just what you're looking for!
- Sourdough Glossary
- Common Sourdough Starter Problems + Easy Solutions
- Everything You Need To Know About Sourdough Discard
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes these muffins are dairy free because they contain no butter or milk. If you need them completely dairy free, skip the butter when greasing the muffin tins and use vegetable oil or coconut oil instead. They are not however vegan because they contain eggs.
Yes, ideally you want to use sourdough discard that has not been sitting around for too long. It should be less than 2 weeks old and not too strong smelling or it will be too over powering in the muffins and give them a strong sour flavor.
Yes you can make this sourdough muffin batter and place in the fridge the night before. In the morning, preheat the oven, scoop the batter into a muffin pan and bake as normal. I have found that they may not rise as high if you keep the batter in the fridge the night before, but it is good for a long fermented sourdough muffin (like these carrot cake muffins and these blueberry muffins).
Orange Cranberry Sourdough Muffins
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Digital Scales
- 12 Hole Muffin Tin
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 200 g Sourdough Starter (Discard or Active Starter)
- 2 Eggs
- 60 g Vegetable Oil
- 50 g Orange Juice (Juice of 1 orange)
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
Dry Ingredients
- 120 g Dried Cranberries (or 200g of fresh or frozen cranberries)
- 200 g All Purpose Flour
- 70 g Sugar (White Granulated Sugar)
- 12 g Baking Powder (2 tsp)
- 5 g Salt
- 100 g Green Apple Shredded (approx 1 large apple)
- Orange Zest (zest from 1 orange)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F and grease a 12 hole muffin tin with butter.
- Mix the sourdough starter, eggs, orange juice, vanilla and oil in a bowl. Whisk together until well combined.
- In a separate bowl mix together orange zest, cranberries, green apple, sugar, all purpose flour, salt and baking powder.
- Now pour the liquid ingredient mixture into the dry ingredients. Gently fold together until just mixed - don't over mix or the muffins will be tough.
- Spoon mixture into greased muffin tin. This recipe will fill a 12 hole muffin (each hole around ¾ full). For larger muffins, use a 6 hole, large muffin tin.
- Bake at 200C/400F for approximately 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
