Last weekend we went to the annual Cranberry Festival in Fort Langley, BC. It is a perfect little village for this kind of events, it always reminds me of Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. They sell all kinds of things cranberry from food related items to decoration and cosmetic products. And of course cranberries.
British Columbia is one of the biggest producers for cranberries and if you are lucky you can see them getting harvested. It is very interesting to see, since the fields are getting flooded and all the cranberries coming to the top and building up a huge carpet of red. Very beautiful.
I bought a huge bag of cranberries, and after making some cranberry sauce, I was looking for some recipes to bake something. I found the following muffin recipe in a German magazine, and they turned out really good. I remember a couple of years ago cranberries where almost unknown in Germany and I would bring some packages when I visit. Now, you can find them everywhere. I think what started the trend was the urge to make a real cosmopolitan as seen on "Sex and the City". Cranberry juice was a really exotic item and my girlfriends and I were browsing every supermarket to get it. Another reason for being so popular is that cranberries are really healthy and also have a good amount of vitamin C.
Cranberry Poppy Seed Muffins
makes 12 muffins
2 cups (200g) fresh cranberries
2 ¾ cups (280g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (200g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
7 tablespoons (100g) butter
2 cups (250g) sour cream
2 eggs
4 tablespoons maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius).
Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
Wash and dry the cranberries. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, vanilla extract, salt and the poppy seeds.
Melt the butter and mix with the sour cream and the eggs. Fold in the flour mixture, being careful not to overmix, then add the cranberries.
Fill the dough in the muffin cups and bake for about 30-35 minutes.
After you take them out of the oven brush the maple syrup on top and let cool on a rack.
Enjoy and Guten Appetit!
