Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins

One of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal is the cranberry sauce. Not the scary jellied kind, but the chunky relish kind with big pieces of whole cranberries. I often make my own (America's Test Kitchen has a great recipe, and there are plenty more out there), but I'll admit to having purchased mine from Trader Joe's the past two years. Theirs is so tasty, and it's one thing I can mark off my cooking list for the busy day. I like it so much that I even bought another tub to enjoy after we returned home from our Thanksgiving travels.

 

And while I'm perfectly happy to eat it on its own, I was curious to see what else I could do with it. When I came across this post on Kitchen Treaty, I was in business. I tweaked two of the muffin recipes to come up with my own version, which we are totally smitten with. I may have to make a batch of homemade sauce just so I can make these muffins again. This makes a pretty small batch, so feel free to double it if you have more sauce to use up.

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins

Adapted from recipes by Kitchen Treaty and Two Peas and Their Pod

Yield: 7-9 muffins

Ingredients:
    3/4 cup (3 oz.) white whole-wheat flour
    1/2 cup (1.75 oz.) rolled oats
    1/4 cup (1.875 oz.) brown sugar
    1/2 tablespoon baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
    3/4 cup cranberry sauce (not the jellied kind)
    1/4 cup milk
    1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla
    1 egg (or a flax-seed substitute: Stir together 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 3 tablespoons water. Let sit for 5 minutes before using.)
    1/4 cup (about 1 oz.) chopped pecans (optional)

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 9 muffin cups or add paper liners and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cranberry sauce, milk, coconut oil, vanilla, and egg.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

5. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full.

6. Bake, rotating the muffin tin halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the muffin centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack and cool completely. Enjoy!