Day 3 of Holiday Yumminess!

Welcome to Day Three!

It's Holiday Sharing Week, and it's my turn to share one 

of my favorite recipes and packaging ideas with you!

I am a huge cranberry lover, and love to try new recipes and old favorites with cranberries as one of the ingredients.  I get excited when Thanksgiving rolls around, as cranberries are much easier to find and less expensive. Today I want to share one of my favorites with you. This recipe is a staple for Christmas morning, and also for little treats to share with my coworkers. Many of you probably do some type of Secret Santa exchange, and I use this packaging idea for an individual gift like that, as well as for place settings on Christmas morning for everyone.

Start with an empty tuna can, all washed and cleared of outside paper. After I wash my can, I run an orange wedge along the inside and let that dry for about an hour, then wash again (to make sure the tuna smell is gone).

Cover the outside and inside with one of your favorite designer papers (I used Authentique), add a cardstock circle to the bottom of the inside and outside (the Spellbinders Circle dies are perfect for this!), some gorgeous ribbon at the top (again, both in and out!), and a little doily to sit your muffin on (you can use paper or cloth). A little embellishment with the tag (instead of a sentiment, this is where I would write the names for the place card), and all done!

I used the 5/8" Burgundy Pleated Satin for my package today. If you had the 1.5", you could just use ribbon instead of designer paper, as it is wide enough to cover the whole can. I love the elegance of this ribbon!

When giving as a Secret Santa gift (and not using for a place setting), I also like to place the muffin in a cellophane bag to keep it fresh and prevent it drying out.

Here is my recipe! I hope you will give it a try! (And if you are ever in the mood for a yummy drink while out Christmas shopping, Sonic Drive-In has the best Cranberry Limeades! Diet too!)

Cranberry-Orange Muffins  

1 cup dried (sweetened) cranberries

1/3 cup fresh orange juice

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 Tablespoon fresh orange zest (the zest of one whole orange)

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon orange extract

2 Tablespoons oil (vegetable, canola or olive)

1/2 cup milk (any fat content)

Directions ~

1.)  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line a muffin/cupcake pan with paper liners.

2.)  Zest one whole orange (making about 1 Tablespoon of zest) and set aside.

Squeeze the juice from that one orange (about 1/3 cup).

3.)  Put the orange juice (if needed, add some prepared orange juice to the fresh juice to make 1/3 cup) and the cranberries in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Simmer about 5 minutes, stirring as needed.  Turn off heat and set aside.

4.)  In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger, and set aside.

5.)  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, orange zest and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes).

6.)  Scrape down the side of the bowl, then add in the eggs (one at a time), vanilla, orange extract, and oil.  Blend until well combined.

7.)  Add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk (add about half of the flour mixture, then some milk,then the rest of the flour, and the rest of the milk).  Fold in the cranberries.  Do not over mix.

8.)  Scoop batter into prepared muffin/cupcake pan. 

Bake muffins about 20 minutes (test with a toothpick, there should be moist crumbs, but not wet).

9.)  Cool muffins on a wire cooling rack. 

Enjoy the muffins while still warm, or when cool.  They are best the day they are made, but are still very good the next day.

Yields about 8 large or 12 medium (standard) muffins.

Recipe Source ~  Glorious Treats 

Thanks for joining me in my kitchen and craft room today!

Stamps: Thinking of You by Rubber Stamp Tapestry Paper: Always Artichoke, Authentique Wonder DP Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Accessories: 5/8" Burgundy Pleated Satin Ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon), Wild Orchid rose, MS branch punch, tag punch, red sticky tape, Spellbinders Circle dies