Cranberry Muffins with Black Walnuts

Living in SE Kansas, I’m very familiar with black walnut trees, which are native to our area. As a girl, I spent hours picking up the pungent green (or black) orbs for the fall nut crop. We had several trees in our yard, and I grew up eating black walnuts in our baked goods. Not all the time, but certainly in particular family recipes–like applesauce cake, Grandma Emma’s Sugar Cookies, carrot cake, and many more. I remember not caring for them, but as I grew older, I became more fond of them, and even craved them in certain recipes.

My husband and daughters refuse to eat anything with black walnuts in them, so it’s not often that I use them now, even though we have black walnut trees growing in our yard! However, this is one recipe that I enjoy making and eating–simply because I can easily share them as gifts at Christmas.

More Muffin Recipes

Preheat oven to 375°F. Gather your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table.

Using a fine-edged grater, zest one orange.

If desired, squeeze the juice from 2-3 oranges, enough to make 3/4 cups. You may use refrigerated orange juice if you do not care to squeeze it fresh. 

Chop the black walnuts with a knife and cutting board or a nut chopper. If you are not a fan of black walnuts, feel free to substitute pecans or English walnuts instead.

Using a food processor, coarsely chop the cranberries.

When I use cranberries in recipes, I always use a food processor to chop them, as I find this the easiest way to do the job. Also, I rarely have fresh cranberries but rather store them in my freezer. You do not need to thaw them before chopping and baking. 

Make the Muffin Batter

In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking soda, salt, and orange zest.

Cut in shortening until crumbly with a blending fork.

Using a rubber spatula, stir in the orange juice, large beaten eggs and vanilla extract until moistened.

Fold in the chopped cranberries and black walnuts.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until golden. If you are using a scoop for this, a size 12 (2 2/3 oz – green) or size 24 (1 1/3 oz – red) works well, for unlined or lined muffin tins.

Because I give these muffins as gifts, I almost always use paper liners. However, this is optional. If desired, you may spray the muffin tins with a baking spray instead. Please note that this recipe will make 18 average-sized muffins, so you will need more than one pan. Alternately, you may use an extra large muffin tin to make 12 large muffins. The baking time will increase a bit for this. 

Once baked, remove muffins from the baking tin to cool on a wire rack. This recipe will make up to 18 muffins.

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