How to make and photograph Browned Butter Cranberry Lime Muffins:
1. ย Walk to the coffee shop around the corner for a small cup of coffee. ย Drink it.
2. ย Plug in your camera battery.
3. ย Look for your camera’s memory card.
You can’t find it. ย Ok… no problem. ย Keep looking.
Still can’t find it. ย Ooooookkk. ย Look some more. ย Maybe it’s in that spot that you’re absolutely positive you left it last. ย No? ย Can’t find it?
Super impatient? ย I understand. ย Camera phone will do. ย It just will.
4. Find your phone.
5. ย Arrange cranberries and lime on that white thing that you like.
6. ย Try to get the kitten to move.
The kitten doesn’t want to move. ย The kitten wants to play.
7. ย Just let the kitten play. ย Fine. ย But he will have to be locked up in just a minute.
8. ย Melt butter until browned and whip up some batter with fresh cranberries.
9. ย Top with granulated sugar and bake.
10. ย Photograph and eat warm. ย Go get more coffee if necessary.
11. ย Don’t share with the kitten. ย Sorry kitten.
Browned Butter Cranberry Lime Muffins
makes 12 muffins
7 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1/4 cup granulated sugar for topping
Put a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. ย Line muffin pan with paper or foil liners
Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. ย Keep an eye on the butter. ย Melt and cook down the butter until little brown bits appear in the pan. ย The crackling will subside and butter will begin to brown fairly quickly after that. ย Keep a close eye. ย Remove from heat.
Whisk milk, egg, yolk, vanilla and lime zest until combined. ย Add the brown butter and whisk to combine.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl ย Add milk and butter mixture all at one and stir gently to combine. ย Gently but thoroughly fold in the cranberries.
Divide the batter among muffin cups and spread evenly.
Generously sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. ย Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes then remove from the pan. ย Serve warm or at room temperature.
126 Responses
One of the cutest blog entries I’ve ever read!!! Your blog (and kitten) are sooo adorable! :)
Thank you so much for this recipe – I baked the muffins to take into work for my birthday and they went down a storm. I did struggle a bit with browning the butter, mostly through impatience I think. How long should it take? I will be making this again later in the week, possibly in cake or loaf form so any tips would be appreciated!
I made these last week and they were delicious!……..Thank you so much for the recipe….. I enjoyed It..
Made these yesterday and they might be some of the best muffins I’ve ever made. Thanks for the recipe, Joy!
Joy, do you think I could make the batter the night before baking in the morning? I was planning on making these for thanksgiving morning but didn’t want to add another thing to make the day of.
I made these this morning and they were delicious!
ohhhh …. the kitty is precious!
Joy, is it possible to make a cake instead of cupcakes? I do not have a muffin pan, so I was wondering if this recipe will work well when baked in a springform, one giant cupcake, what do you think?
this would be great as a 9-inch cake! just keep an eye on it in the oven, i don’t know off the top of my head how long it’ll need to bake.
I made this as a cake yesterday for a New Year’s party. I added two large eggs, instead of 1 whole egg + 1 yolk, to get a slightly runnier consistency. Instead of using a springform I used a bundt tin, which helped me with the timing. As far as I can remember it only took about 35 minutes to cook through. Hope that helped.
Joy – I just made these this morning and they turned out wonderfully! This was my first j the b recipe to try and it was a great one. Aside from adult beverages, I had never tried cranberry with lime – just with the standard orange, but it was a great combo and the lime really helps to counteract with the tarntess of the cranberry. Love it!
love cranberries
these look soooo good — but could I make them with frozen cranberries instead?