Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Muffins
After making these pumpkin cranberry muffins a couple weeks ago, Hubby said I didn’t need to ever try another muffin recipe again. He said they were the best I had ever made and he could eat them forever. Now, I’ve made quite a few different muffin recipes. And for anyone who knows me in real life, they know that I don’t just stop trying new recipes. It’s just not my thing. It annoys my family sometimes when they ask me to make something I’ve already made and I get all hesitant because I’ve already tried the recipe. Don’t get me wrong, some recipes I do repeat, but not so much for baked goods…
When I gave Hubby one of these muffins to try, he first thought it was a repeat of the pumpkin cranberry muffin. When I told him it was a new recipe, he seemed apprehensive. But I can say without any hesitation that these are much better (in my opinion) than the pumpkin ones of a few weeks ago. These muffins add a few extra flavors and textures. I love the different textures from the apples, cranberries, and nuts in the muffins. And they’re quite colorful!
I ended up using walnuts and pecans because that is what I had on hand. This is the type of recipe that you can adapt to fit your pantry. I used Granny Smith apples and next time I’ll be sure to chop them a bit smaller. I really enjoyed the bites with the fresh cranberries in them. The small punch of tartness is just great. As always, I doubled the recipe so that I would have muffins to freeze for us.
Cranberry Apple Pumpkin Muffins
Yield: ~20 muffins
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour - I used 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium apple peeled, cored, and diced
1 c. fresh cranberries
1 c. chopped pecans - I used 1/2 pecans and 1/2 walnuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pans.
In large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.
In another large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla and stir to combine well.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just barely blended. Fold in apples, cranberries and pecans.
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for ~30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
Recipe adapted from Good Things Catered
Check out my week of Cranberries here.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I think it’s very interesting that KAF has you freeze after baking. With most yeast things, you can pop them in the freezer before the second rise, and then take them out the night before, let them have a slow rise in the fridge, and then leave them out until they are proofed and then bake. It seems so much easier to just partially bake them. Interesting.
All the flavors sound incredible!
1. Pumpkin cinnamon rolls are fabulous, and these look great!
2. I love the tip about pre-baking the rolls before freezing. I will definitely be employing that technique :).
These sound AMAZING! I’ve been fearful of making cinnamon rolls- both for the baking and having them around- this is great to know though! Thanks!
No fair using my recipe and then making prettier cinnamon rolls than me. Hmph!
Oh well, I suppose it’s worth it to find about this great freezing trick!
Wow, do those look and sound delicious! Thanks for the info on how to freeze the rolls. I think I’ll attempt yeast soon.
Thanks for sharing the tip on freezing cinnamon rolls. I seriously love KAF’s helpful hints on their blog and website!
ok what a brilliant idea!! I love making pumpkin cinnamon rolls, I just made a batch last weekend 🙂
Oh YUM! Thanks for the freezing tips. I wanted to make my kids homemade cinnamon rolls this weekend, but like you, didn’t want them sitting around to tempt me! Does the pumpkin make the rolls really moist? I’m saving this recipe.
Rhondi – I found the dough to be similar to other cinnamon roll dough as far as the moistness goes.
I haven’t had cinnamon rolls in such a long time! I can’t wait to try these.
These look great – the pumpkin is such a nice touch. Love the freezing tips!
Hello as I am sure you know here in Italy we use the yeast in very many recipes. To freeze some dough leavened with baking powder (such as croissants or Daddy), some experts have advised me after giving shape to freeze before the final rise, then remove from freezer the night before putting in the oven thawing, and morning turn on the oven and cook as usual. I must tell you that I tried and the result was perfect.
Ciao Flavia
Yum! I LOVE cinnamon rolls and pumpkin cinnamon rolls are definitely a nice change-up from the usual plain cinnamon rolls. Great recipe!
pumpkin cinnamon rolls!? get out of town!? these look ah-mazing!!!!
I love your freezing tip! I actually haven’t tried making cinnamon rolls yet, but will soon! It’s nice to know you can make them the night before too and then just finish baking in the morning.
delicious a favourite I make similar
I never knew pumpkin cinnamon rolls existed until now. Looks and sounds divine!