I use a LOT of white chocolate in baking. I think  it’s delicious. If someone gives me a choice between dark, milk or white it’s going to be white. I love other chocolate too, obviously, if someone gives me any kind of chocolate I won’t turn it down –  but I have a special spot in my heart for white chocolate. And don’t give me that whole “But it’s not real chocolate, Danica, you’re stupid” speech because, yes…I know it’s not real chocolate. And no, I don’t care. Because it’s sweet, creamy, delicious and it looks pretty. If you’re really so against the deceitfulness of white chocolate, then by all means, use whatever kind of chocolate floats your boat. But my boat is currently floating on a sea of white chocolate and cranberries, which in my mind, is a perfect pairing.

I love mixing cranberries into muffins. I love the bite of the tartness and the pretty pink swirl that it makes in the batter and how it cuts the sweetness of the chocolate. Remember to not overmix the batter, especially when you add the cranberries in because you’ll bust the cranberries and then instead of a pretty pink swirl you’ll just end up with full pink batter with mashed up cranberries in them. Still tasty, but just not quite what we’re going for here. Remember: do not overmix and be gentle!!

I didn’t have muffin liners on hand when I made these, but normally I would line the muffin tin…(my bad)..mostly because it makes for easier cleanup, which means you can get to eating these muffins sooner. A bit of lemon zest or a sprinkle of almonds on the top would also be delicious if you wanted to shake things up a bit! You can omit the melted chocolate on top, but c’mon that would be silly. Not only does it make them look a bit more special and adds a little somethin’ somethin’, but after you’re done drizzling the chocolate, you get to lick the bowl (go ahead, I won’t tell 😉 ) so there’s really no downside to that extra step! I drizzle mine with a lot, but you can drizzle as much or as little as you want!

Makes 12 muffins

CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS

• 4 tbsp melted butter
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose-flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (or dark or milk)
• 1/2 cup melted white chocolate (for drizzling)

Preheat oven to 400 fht. and line a muffin tin (12 count) with cupcake liners (or grease the tin if you don’t have liners!)

In large bowl, combine melted butter, oil, and sugar. Combine.

Add egg, egg white, vanilla and almond extracts and stir well.

Add in milk and combine.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients until JUST combined and then carefully stir in cranberries and white chocolate (even if some flour mixture is still visible, that’s okay – just do NOT overmix, you’ll have tough muffins and you’ll break the cranberries and have very very pink muffins!)

Bake at 400 fht. for 20 – 25 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean with few crumbs.

While muffins are cooling, melt white chocolate in microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between nukes until completely melted. Or you can do this over a double broiler on the stovetop, stirring constantly.

Take muffins out of tin onto a cooling rack, and drizzle with white chocolate. (I put a lot of drizzle on mine, but put as much or as little as you like on – these are your muffins after all!)

Saluti!