Muffins are the ultimate comfort food for me. I’m most likely to reach for one when I want to break out of my usual breakfast routine (granola with berries or dried fruit). Muffins are an especially nice way to begin a new week! Cinnamon adds warmth to these vanilla muffins, which are brimming with ruby-red dried cranberries and gooey chocolate chips.
This is my first time pairing chocolate with cranberry, and I was pleasantly surprised by the result – I love the balance of sweet and tart. I’m sharing this recipe as part of November’s Chocolate Party; scroll down below the recipe to see more chocolate and cranberry treats.
Chocolate Chip & Cranberry Muffins
1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 Tbsp plain nonfat yogurt
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Topping
2 Tbsp cranberries
2 Tbsp semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375°F and line a 12-cup standard muffin pan with baking cups; coat baking cups with cooking spray. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl; make a well in the center of the mixture. Combine buttermilk, yogurt, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl; add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Fold in cranberries and chocolate chips.
Fill each baking cup 2/3 full of batter, then sprinkle evenly with cranberries and chocolate chips. Bake for 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let muffins cool in pan on a wire rack for 2 minutes before removing from pan to serve warm or cool completely. Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.
Yield – 12 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)
Calories – 170
Carbs – 28
These look wonderful!! I love combining chocolate + cranberries–one of my fave treats!
I love that you made a muffin! Any time I can add chocolate into my morning routine I know it’s going to be a great day!
I see your muffins for breakfast during the holidays-what a treat;-)
I’m sure this pairing is amazing! And I love the excuse of having chocolate for breakfast :)
Such cute plates, muffin papers AND muffins! Though DELISH is probably a better word for your baked goods!
Muffins are my favorite! What a great use of chocolate and cranberries here!
Laura, I love your little muffins and the polka dot plates! So cute. :D (Muffins are one of my comfort foods too.)
chocolate & cranberry is such a winning combo – I agree!
those plates and muffin liners are so cute!
These look so good, I wouldn’t have thought of putting chocolate and cranberries together, brilliant!
These are adorable and the photos are so bright. Chocolate + cranberry is a great combination!
I’d prefer these to the usual granola any day too! These muffins look wonderful, Laura! Thinking about you in Italy. – you’re amazing to have prepared so well ahead of time!
I try to eat chocolate as early in the day as possible, this way I know no matter what happens in the afternoon I can face it.
Beautiful muffins Laura, thanks for joining our party this month too.
Mm, I don’t think I had cranberries and chocolate before – sounds like a great combo though. Does this mean you’re back from Italy now? I hope everything went ok Laura :)
I would love to wake up to one of these scrumptious muffins!
These look like a real treat for breakfast. I think I’ll have to make these soon.
i love having muffins for breakfast. they take the thinking out for me – plus, at that early in the morning, i’d prefer to grab my coffee & a muffin to go anyway! i love the chocolate chip and cranberries you added in this – perfect melody of flavors :)
I love cranberries and chocolate together. The sweet of the chocolate with the sour of the cranberries lifts both out of the ordinary. Not that chocolate could ever be ordinary.
Loving all of the chocolate party recipes! These muffins look so delish. I can only imagine how your house smelled while these were baking. Hope your trip to Italy was great and that you were able to visit with family even during a challenging time.
I have to agree with you I reach for comforting muffins too, I just love them. These muffins look pretty with the red berries and chocolate in them.
You know, come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever had chocolate and cranberry together, either. I think these sound wonderful, though!!
Your food styling and photography, as well as the recipe for the muffins are just so perfect! Everything is all good in this post and I love the red color theme! Chocolate chips and craberries pop up from muffins. I wish to have a few muffins for myself for tomorrow breakfast… :)
Are you back from Italy yet? So, I see many bloggers doing this chocolate party thing…! YUM! I might just be in heaven right now. I love chocolates and I love cranberries – the perfect sweet and tart marriage!
I love muffins – I try to bake a batch every weekend so that I’ll have a mid-morning stack to nosh on at work (I’m like a farm animal – I have to constantly graze). These adorable muffins must be so moist from the buttermilk and yogurt – yum!
This sounds to be a lovely idea. Its sounding very yummy!
Just fabulous Laura! The muffins and the pics! I like the dotted plates together with the cranberries.
Your muffins are beautiful, Laura! I love the sweet/tart combo too!
This could bey my new fav breakfast this winter! Love cranberries and chocolate combo!
these look sooooo delicious and fun! YUM!
Oh yummy, and what a cute photo!! :)
What a wonderful combination of chocolates and cranberries! It should taste great!
Adore the pairing of cranberries with chocolate! What a tempting treat, perfect for a chilly fall morning!
Muffins are a great way to start the week:)I would love one of these tonight -they look delicious, Laura:)
Laura, these look light and luscious!
Love the chocolate and cranberry combo, and these muffins looks perfect!
Gorgeous muffins and combination! Can I have one for dessert? ;-)
Cheers,
Rosa
I’ve never thought of pairing cranberries with chocolate, but now that you mention it, it sounds wonderful! What a delicious idea, perfect for the holiday season :)
I was just experimenting with chocolate and cranberries myself this past weekend! It is a great combination. :) The muffins look so soft and tasty!
I am more of a muffin girl and less of a cupcake girl. It’s always so comforting to bake a batch!
Those polka dot plates and cupcake papers are super cute, perfect to hold your delectable little goodies!
What a great combination Laura, and your styling and recipe itself is just so beautiful and tasty! Well done!!!!
They are so cute! And I love the way that you styled them too with the red and white set! :D
Great combo and I love how the cranberries always adds that extra flavour to the muffin and certainly compliments chocolate. Thanks for coming over, appreciate it! Stay in touch, cheers, Jo
Fantastic looking muffins Laura. I especially love the way you’ve paired them with your polka dot plates! Cute!
AN absolute winner! …and great snaps. :)
I love sweet and tart, too. Sweet & salty, sweet and savory, sweet and…sweet? I guess I love it all :-) These would be such a nice morning treat!
your props are adorable!
it’s a usual combination, cranberries + chocolate but your muffins do make them look lovely together.
Um, chocolate goes with EVERYTHING!!!
I am just loving the pairing of chocolate and cranberry…they look and sound wonderful!
There’s something about cranberry and chocolate chips that screams “holiday”!
i am having so much going through eveyone’s chocolate party postings. your muffins look awesome! and your photography is GORGEOUS!
These looks so yummy!! I love chocolate chip muffins more than you know! Great addition to our Chocolate Party!
I love your cranberry-studded cupcakes! Never knew until this month’s chocolate party how well cranberries paired with chocolate! Have a lovely Thanksgiving!
Roz
Oooops, sorry for the typo above! My husband was handing me a cupcake at the same time that I was typing . . . I truly meant to write “muffins”! My bad!
I totally agree – Muffins are the ultimate comfort food! And we are so in sync, Laura! Cranberry and chocolate chips – Yum! Love your pictures. The polka dot plates are too cute! :)