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.

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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.

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16 Responses to “Coconut Layer Cake Filled with Lemon Curd”

  1. #
    1
    Erica @ Inandaroundtown — April 6, 2011 at 4:22 pm

    WOW – I would like to have a piece of that cake as soon as possible! looks beautiful and delicious!

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    2
    FunandFearlessinBeantown — April 6, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    This cake looks beautiful and I love the addition of toasted coconut!

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    3
    Christina — April 6, 2011 at 4:32 pm

    I love love cakes with coconut. So delicious.

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    4
    Maria — April 6, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    Beautiful cake!

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    5
    DeliciousDish — April 6, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    Totally agree – the more layers the better! The cake looks stunning!

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    6
    Paula Kelly-Bourque — April 6, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Had I been at your dinner party you wouldn’t have had to cook anything. I would have just completely indulged in this gorgeous cake!

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    7
    Evan — April 6, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    This cake looks incredible! coconut and lemon are two of my favorite flavors; I’m glad you don’t have to choose one or the other with this recipe.

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    8
    Bianca Garcia — April 6, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    This sounds wonderful. Coconut with lemon curd, yummmm!

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    9
    Taryn — April 6, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    This looks fantastic – so springy and beautiful, and absolutely delish 🙂

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    10
    ammy 92 — April 6, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    what a wonderful cake!

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    11
    ErinsFoodFiles — April 6, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    Beautiful cake! I’ve been craving a coconut cake, but I know too many people who don’t like coconut cake that if I made it I wouldn’t have anyone to share. Boo.

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    12
    Shannon — April 6, 2011 at 8:01 pm

    ooh, fabulous. love the lemon curd-coconut combo, and in a layer cake, fun!!

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    13
    A Boston Food Diary — April 6, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    OF COURSE 4 is better than 2!!! This looks amazing….I love the idea of lemon and coconut together-and it’s gorgeous!

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    14
    Aimee — April 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    Love lemon curd, love coconut, especially love a cake that lets me “frost” the sides with ease. This looks so yummy!!

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    15
    Nutmeg Nanny — April 6, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Such a delicious cake! I honestly didn’t know a 6 inch was half of a 9 inch….thank you 🙂

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    16
    Kelly Jaremco — April 29, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    I told my girlfriend I would bake her a cake for her birthday this Sunday !!! I got lemon curd and coconut stuck in my brain, so I started googling… which led me to your page !!! This recipie looks almost perfect !!

    Couple questions…

    Do you think the coconut extract was too strong for the cake, because you also have the browned coconut pcs too? I was considering vanilla bean cake, lemon curd and toasted coconut on the outside… but perhaps that wouldn’t be enough coconut flavour…. your thoughts?

    Lastly… what did you use as the frosting to keep the toasted coconut on? It looks like whipping cream…. ?!?!?

    Thanks !!!
    Kelly

    P.S
    This is the first cake I’ve ever baked !!! lol

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