Muffin Fix- Cranberries and Almonds!

Well back into the hum drum of reality with work, cleaning, gardening, work, not sleeping and basically not enjoying it all so much. So I took some time out to bake some yummy more savoury type of muffins and enjoy the foggy rain. The weather looks like it is trying to clear but, it was a lot of fun today weeding the front garden bed in the wispy rain. One of these guys jumped on me however, once I realised it was on the glove he was so cool to look at. 

I have been craving dried cranberries all week for some random reason and low and behold I stumble upon some in the quick sale section. :) This made my day. But what to do with them...I could put them in a trail mix for school over the week, I could dip them in chocolate, I could eat them one at a time and enjoy the tart taste...So many choices. Eventually, after much debate, I decided to try out combining 2 different recipes to make Spiced Cranberries and Almonds Muffin. I LOVE the result. They hit my savoury craving just right. Although this idea won by a nose to the Cranberry and Almond Loaf. That may have been due to the loaf tin growing legs and running away from home. That's my story anyway.
I hope you like. 

Spiced Cranberry and Almond Cupcakes

Prep: 5 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Makes: 10 large muffins, 20 cupcakes

Ingredients

150g butter, softened
150g white sugar
175g self raising flour
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup of dried cranberries
1 cup of slivered almonds
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C, prepare cupcake/muffin tins with butter or paper/foil

2. In a large bowl add butter, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla essence, ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend with hand mixer until creamy.

3. Stir through almonds and cranberries.

4. Place mixture into muffin/cupcake tin, place a small dried cranberry on top of each muffin/cupcake.

5. Cook for 20-25 mins or until golden brown. Serve warm or cooled. 

I may also be stupidly excited about my new electronic scales from 'Three Hats'. Most importantly it is red and I finally have something to measure weight instead of esimating. I haven't had an official scale for 2 years and this has resulted in me not trying some recipes. Woot woot!!!