Light & fluffy orange scented muffins studded with juicy, jewel red cranberries & crunchy, vibrantly green pistachios all topped with a swirl of vanilla cream. Festive, fragrant & delicious!
PREP TIME: 20 minutesminutes
COOK TIME: 25 minutesminutes
Servings: 10muffins
Ingredients
120mls | 1/2cuporange juice, You will need 1 maybe 2 oranges, (zest the orange before you juice it)
120g | 1cupdried cranberries
260g | 2cupsall purpose unbleached flour(sifted)
2.5teaspoonsbaking powder
1/4teaspoonbaking soda
1/4teaspoonsalt
100g | 1/2cupsugar(any light granulated sugar will work, as will coconut sugar)
50g | 1/2cuppistachio nuts, chopped, (see recipe notes)
2 tbsporange zest, a little more or less is fine (use the zest from the oranges you juice)
120mls | 1/2cupcoconut oil, in liquid form, (mild olive oil would also work)
240mls | 1cupnon-dairy milk
1tablespoonapple cider vinegar(white wine vinegar can also be used).
1tablespoonvanilla extract
For frosting
1400 ml canfull fat coconut milk, you just need the hard cream on top, (the whole can needs to be refrigerated for at least 12 hours before using).
1/2teaspoonvanilla bean powder( You may sub this for 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract if you do not have vanilla bean powder but I do recommend you try to get the powder as the flavour is so much better).
1 - 2tablespoonsorange juice(what was left when you drained the cranberries) if the cream is very thick and needs loosening.
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Line a muffin tray with liners. I love my silicone liners. They can be used over and over and nothing ever sticks in them.
Put the cranberries in a small bowl and cover with the orange juice. Leave to soak for at least 15 minutes.
Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and suagr into a large bowl.
Put orange zest, melted coconut oil. milk, vinegar and vanilla into another bowl and mix together. Don't worry if the coconut oil goes a bit clumpy. Just mix it all up as well as you can.
Drain the cranberries (keep the leftover juice and set it aside for now) and add them to the wet ingredients.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well but not too much. You want it to be just combined so you can't see any dry flour. Over mixing can affect the rise & texture. Then gently fold in the pistachio nuts.
Spoon into muffin cases and put into the oven immediately.
Bake for around 25 minutes or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean.
For the cream
While the muffins are cooking or cooling, open the can of coconut milk.
Scrape out the hard cream and put in a bowl. Keep the leftover water and add to a smoothie or curry later.
Beat with an electric hand held whisk or in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the powdered sugar and vanilla bean powder or extract and beat again until well combined.
If too stiff add a drop or two of the reserved drained orange juice to loosen.
If you accidentally add a bit too much orange juice then just add a little more powered sugar.
The cream will get a little bit loose as it warms up while being whipped. If it's too loose to pipe put it in the fridge to set up a bit, or even the freezer for a little while if you are in a hurry.
Either pipe or spread onto the muffins then decorate with some chopped pistachios and dried cranberries.
If you have any leftover orange juice you can save it to add to a smoothie rather than waste it.
NOTES
If you cannot find natural pistachio nuts then it is ok to use salted pistachios. I purchased mine from a bulk bin and they were labelled unsalted and natural but when I got home and tasted one they were actually salted. They worked absolutely fine in the recipe. Just reduce the salt to 1/8 of a teaspoon to compensate if this is the case.