These fluffy Lemon Cranberry Muffins have incredible lemon flavour, juicy fresh cranberries, and sweet icing on top to balance out the tartness perfectly!
Fresh cranberries are an extremely underrated ingredient. When was the last time you used fresh cranberries? I know I don't use them nearly often enough. This is clearly illustrated by the fact that this is the only recipe on my website so far that features these delicious tart jewels. That is going to change soon!
The secret to using these very tart, yet juicy, berries is to balance their tartness with something sweet. The balanced lemon muffin and sweet icing on top are perfect with the cranberries in this recipe!
If you love dried cranberries, be sure to check out my White Chocolate Cranberry Lemon Cookies or this Cinnamon Cranberry Pecan Granola! Cranberries are so festive and I think these cranberry lemon pound cake muffins would be a delightful addition to Christmas morning brunch!
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- Fluffy and moist. These cranberry lemon muffins have a great texture!
- Perfect sweet/tart balance. The sweetness of the muffin and the icing on top balances out the tart cranberries perfectly!
- Flavourful. Fresh lemon juice, zest, extract, and lemon pudding mix all build the delicious lemon flavour in these lemon muffins!
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make these moist lemon and cranberry muffins.
- Oil makes these muffins super moist. Use any neutral-flavoured oil such as avocado oil, vegetable oil, or sunflower oil.
- White sugar is used to sweeten these muffins because of its neutral flavour.
- Instant Lemon Pudding Mix also helps give these muffins their incredible texture as well as plays a huge role in flavour.
- Fresh lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest all amp up that lemon flavour.
- Three eggs help bring structure to muffins.
- Sour cream adds tons of moisture.
- All-purpose flour works great in these muffins.
- Both baking powder and baking soda and used to make these muffins fluffy.
- Fresh cranberries are so juicy and tart and pair perfectly with lemon and the sweet glaze on top!
- Powdered sugar and milk make a simple sweet glaze to top the muffins!
See the recipe card for measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: Whisk together the oil, sugar, lemon pudding mix, lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest.
Step 2: Add the eggs and sour cream and whisk until smooth.
Step 3: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the washed fresh cranberries and stir until combined.
Step 4: Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix!
Step 5: Scoop the batter into a muffin tin lined with muffin liners (or greased).
Step 6: Bake for 35-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the muffin tins for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Step 7: Stir together the powdered sugar and milk to make the icing. Drizzle or pour on top of the mostly cooled muffins. Top with extra cranberries as a garnish, if desired.
Hint: If you top the muffins with more cranberries as a garnish, I recommend removing them before eating as they will be very tart! Or use dried cranberries as an edible garnish.
📝 Substitutions
Here are some possible substitutions and variations to keep in mind if you would like to make this recipe.
- Fresh Lemon Juice - I always use fresh lemon but bottled lemon juice may be used instead.
- Sour Cream - In a pinch, plain yogurt may be used instead of sour cream.
- Cranberries - Use fresh blueberries instead for a summertime variation.
❄️ Storage
Store muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
This recipe has not been tested for storage in the freezer.
💡 Top tip
Let the muffins bake in the oven without opening the door at all the check on them. Opening the oven door will let in a rush of cooler air which might make the muffins fall during baking. Only open the oven at the end of the baking time to check on the doneness.
❓ FAQ
Every muffin recipe requires a different baking time. This particular recipe needs to bake for around 25-30 minutes but every oven is different, so keep an eye out for when they are done when a tester inserted into the center comes out clean or with only cooked crumbs on it.
🧁 More Muffin Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried these Cranberry Lemon Muffins or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Cranberry Muffins
Equipment
- 12-count muffin tin(s)
- muffin liners or non-stick spray
- mixing bowls
- measuring cups & spoons
- whisk
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- ½ cup oil (any neutral-flavoured oil works)
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 (4-serving) package instant lemon pudding
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice *
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup sour cream *
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
For the Icing;
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a 12-count muffin tin with muffin liners plus another tin with 3 muffin liners.
- Whisk together the oil, sugar, lemon pudding mix, lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest. Add the eggs and sour cream and whisk until combined.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in the fresh cranberries. Add to the combined wet ingredients and stir just until combined, being careful not to overmix.
- Spoon the batter into each of the 15 muffin cups filling each one almost to the top. Bake in preheated oven for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Prepare the icing while the muffins are cooling. Whisk together powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled muffins. Enjoy!
Notes
- I recommend fresh lemon but bottled lemon juice may be used instead.
- Plain yogurt may be used instead of sour cream.
Maddie
Hmmm! These look super good!!
Naomi
Thank you, Maddie! ❤️