Cranberry Eggnog Muffins { aka Christmas Morning Muffins}

In my opinion, these muffins are the perfect Christmas morning muffins: tart cranberries, sweet eggnog, walnuts and hints of cinnamon all baked together.

As far back as I can remember my mom has been making these muffins along with some cheddar bacon muffins and banana muffins for Christmas morning. She bakes them earlier in the week and then freezes them. On Christmas we slice up fruit, set out a cheese platter, warm up some muffins and have a easy and relaxing breakfast together.

So I'm a little biased towards these particular muffins, but they are tasty enough to have won a spot on our breakfast table for at least a decade (correction) 21 years!

 

 

Maybe it's the perfect flavor combination that has kept them around for so long. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm super anal about Christmas traditions and everything (and I mean everything) has to happen the same way every. single. year.

We wouldn't let terrible muffins to ruin our Christmas year after year so it's probably a little bit of both.

 

 

My mom bakes the muffins out of a tattered copy of Muffin Mania which is covered in her handwritten notes.

I was surprised when I found a brand new copy at the book store a few months ago. It was about 17 -18 dollars and I said to myself  "That's too expensive for a small paperback book.. I'll just Google the amazon.ca price and see if I can get it cheaper"

I found it on amazon.ca.. for 107 dollars! Suddenly 17 dollars seemed like a bargain. I guess the book had been out of print until recently so the scarce copies were selling for a higher price. I snatched up my own copy and was looking forward to baking up a batch of cranberry eggnog muffins....

 

...But when I looked inside there were no cranberry eggnog muffins to be found! The Christmas Morning muffins were a mix of orange zest and cranberries.

I called my mom and she went to her copy of the book where she had written the recipe for her own eggnog version on one of the pages. Of course a new copy wouldn't have her notes in it! Thank god I hadn't bought the 107 dollar one from Amazon thinking that I'd find the recipe inside it.  

The recipe is easy (as all muffin recipes should be), you chop some thawed or fresh cranberries, sprinkle them with sugar and set them aside to sweeten while you make the eggnog flavored batter.

 

Then the cranberries and walnuts are folded in and the batter is divided into muffin tins or into a loaf pan to make a cranberry eggnog loaf (like banana bread, but much prettier).

The muffins bake for 15 minutes and the loaf takes about 40 minutes. They make your entire house smell like Christmas and it's impossible to not eat a few right away. I like to brush the tops of the muffins with butter and then sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

We usually freeze the rest of the muffins as soon as they are cool.

The loaf can be left plain, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, or glazed and then enjoyed in slices. I think they're best served warm but other members of my family like them best at room temperature.

For the full Christmas breakfast experience, serve them with my mom's cheddar bacon muffins (another recipe I thought would be in the muffin book but was actually hidden in my mom's notes) and your favorite banana muffins.

 

Cranberry Eggnog Muffins

 (from my mom's notes in Muffin Mania)

Makes 18 muffins or two loaves (or 9 muffins and one loaf)

2 cups cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

 

3 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups eggnog

2/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375

1. Chop the cranberries and cover with 1/2 cup of sugar. Put aside to sweeten while you make the batter

2. In a separate bowl stir together the dry ingredients: flour, the other 1/2 cup of sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. In a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients: egg, eggnog, and melted butter.

4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and briefly stir.

5. Fold in the walnuts first, and then the chopped cranberries.

6. Fill 18 greased muffin cups or two 8 X 4 loaf pans (or 9 muffins and one loaf pan). Bake the muffins for 14-20 minutes. Bake the loaves for 35-40 minutes (you may need to tent the loaf with foil if it starts getting too dark around the halfway mark).

7. Allow to cool and enjoy! If you are planning to freeze then allow them to cool and freeze right away.

 

 

Comments

[jaime @ sweet road]

I can't even imagine how perfect the eggnog must be in this recipe. It's such a thick, creamy drink that it must make for an amazing muffin!

[Mary at n00bcakes]

These sound wonderful! While I'm more of a savory-breakfast person, my family tends to make cinnamony muffins and cakes for breakfast on special occasions, so I totally understand. :) Also, traditions - to me - are what make holidays like Christmas the best.

Thanks for sharing your mom's super-secret recipe! :D

[Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe]

I just love Christmas traditions! These muffins look amazing. I made cranberry egg nog scones last year and loved them too! Can't wait to bust out the cranberry and egg nog recipes!

[Becs @ Lay the table]

For the past few years I haven't been at home so it's hard to try to keep traditions going strong, especially when the in-laws have their own ones! The muffins look so Christmassy - I've never thought to put eggnog IN THINGS. Defo going to add this to the Christmas bake list!

[Jessie]

These look great! Muffin Mania was my first cookbook! I still have my old copy, it's a brown spiral bound one. thanks for making me wax nostalgic.

[Paula]

How wonderful that you did get a copy of this book for $17.00! I'd love to wake up Christmas morning to the aroma of these baking in the oven.

[Stefanie @ Sarcastic Cooking]

Ok so I am in charge of Christmas breakfast and in addition to cinnamon rolls I am making these!!!! So festive!

[erin @ yummy supper]

Stephanie, I love everything about this. "Muffin Mania" has me cracking up at the title. And those cranberry beauties look amazing. I can see why they are part of your tradition!
xxoo
E

[Erica]

I think eggnog muffins may be the best combination I've ever heard. Hmm, eggnog cupcakes?

[TasteHongKong]

Yes, your muffins look awesome and festive, but I bet they are good to enjoy at all times.

[Jessica @ bake me away!]

They're lovely! I sadly haven't been able to like eggnog, but think it would be tasty in this situation, especially with the tart cranberries.

[Maggie Muggins]

I’ve been on a total cranberry kick lately, found some in the freezer and have been putting them in everything I can think of ever since. These sound awesome, I’m gonna try a batch with some soynog or something.

[Heidi @ Food Doodles]

Mmm, I just love the idea of egg nog in muffins! And fresh cranberries are already one of my favorite additions to muffins so these sound wonderful to me!

[Mary]

I love your post! My Mom also owns the Muffin Mania book and she bakes tons of muffins from it. YEARS ago she photocopied the book for me to have own copy. A year ago or so she found me a 2nd hand copy of my own. Anyway, I can't wait to try your recipe and my tip to you is to make the orange-date muffins. My Mom uses raisins instead of dates and they are so moist and yummy. My Mom and I have even baked muffins together on my blog!

[Ashley]

Making this right now. The mix is very thick and dense. Sound right?

[Stephanie]

Ashley: The mixture is quite thick, it needs to be spooned into the muffin tins

[LUCILLIA Wilson]

Is the cranberry, s 2 cups measured and then chopped or 2 cups of chopped cranberries

[Jenamiller]

Making these now! Test batches for the holidays as gifts.... They look good.