Easy Cranberry Ricotta Whole Wheat Muffins

My mother is so cute. Since she has been aware of this blog, she’s always cutting recipes out of newspapers and magazines for me. Luckily for me, she has excellent taste when it comes to the interesting and unusual. At 84 she also has a mind like a steel trap. Recently I mentioned I had leftover ricotta from making galettes for weekend guests and the next time I saw her, she handed me this recipe. It was for a cake but I made muffins out of it.

Of course, I also switched up most of the ingredients and added a sugar spice topping but there is still nothing unusual about this recipe other than it did help me divest myself of some of the leftover ricotta. What won me over was how quickly it came together with no mixer involved so I thought I’d share it.

I made them on a Sunday morning for weekend guests, which made the no mixer drama a plus, especially when you are setting out a breakfast feast. There was hardy approval all the way around.

There are limitless substitutions you can make for the cranberries. I was just going with the season and using whole wheat flour gave myself the illusion these are super healthy.

For the muffins:

Ingredients:

• 1+1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup yellow corn meal
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup ricotta
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 stick melted butter
• 1  12  oz bag fresh cranberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Spray 2 muffin pans with nonstick coating
• Whisk together all the dry ingredients.
• Beat together ricotta and eggs and add to dry mixture.
• Add melted butter and mix thoroughly.
• Add cranberries
• Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each well up about 3/4 full.
• Sprinkle sugar spice topping over (recipe below)
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Transfer muffins to a wire rack. I would normally say let cool completely but these taste amazing warm.

For the Sugar Spice topping:

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup white or brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice.

Directions:

• Place both ingredients in a bowl and combine using a mini whisk or a fork.