Cranberry-filled mini muffins

Can you believe my phone took this picture??

I was looking through all of my blog subscriptions and I came across this delicious looking recipe from Cranberry Upside-Down Muffins at BigBearsWife's Blog. As I'm reading through the ingredients, I'm realizing I have everything, and most importantly some cranberries I would really like to use up! Yay! Baking time!

So, I decided to make some changes to this recipe. I'm weird. I don't have a regular muffin tin, I only have a mini muffin tin. I also wanted them to be more "muffin-like" so I could store them and give them to people, and they wouldn't be as messy. The recipe itself is the same though, its just the construction that is a little different.


Cranberry-filled Mini Muffins

Ingredients:

Cranberry Sauce Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice or water

Muffin Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure the rack is in the middle. Prepare your mini muffin tin by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.

2.  In a medium sized saucepan, combine all your sauce ingredients and heat on medium heat, stirring constantly. Keep stirring until cranberries begin to pop and the sugar dissolves. Set aside and let cool while preparing the muffin batter. 

3.  In a large mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt). In another bowl, combine your wet ingredients (milk, egg, vanilla, and butter). Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Don't over stir.

4.  Put a small amount of batter into the bottom of each cup in your prepared muffin tin. Then put a layer of cranberry sauce, and then finish off with another layer of muffin batter.

5.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, and then let cool.