Cranberry, Mango and Blueberry Muffins

I'm a firm believer that one of the perfect snacky/breakfast foods is a muffin. (OK, when it comes to breakfast, a feta, black olive, tomato and spinach scrambler might beat that!) Lucky for me (you, too!) they/re generally pretty easy to whip up and are very versatile. Throw on some streusel topping, add some berries, mix in some nuts; muffins will work them. Think RuPaul, "Work it girl" kind of work them.

A few weeks ago, I ran across a blueberry, cranberry and mango dried fruit trio at Trader Joe's. Many people would think, "Score! Great snack food!", but I thought, "Score! Muffins!". After weeks of procrastinating looking for a recipe, I found a streusel one that looked so good that I just had to try it. I'm so glad I did! These babies are moist and tasty, and my only regret is that I didn't double the recipe. 12 muffins are great, but when you share, 24 is even better.


I used a very slight variation of this Food.com recipe.

Ingredients:

Streusel
2 Tbs quick-cooking oats
1 Tbs flour
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/4 tsp gound cinnamon
2 tsp coconut oil
2 tsp water

Muffins
3/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup milk
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 Cup dried fruit mix
1 1/3 Cups flour
2 tsp baking powder


Pre-heat your oven to 350° and line your muffin tin with paper liners.

In a small bowl, mix together all topping ingredients. Mix with  a fork until thoroughly combined. I used coconut oil which solidifies unless it's kept in a warm spot, and didn't think to warm it first. My solution was to just leave the bowl on the oven while I made the muffins, which ended up working out fine.



In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Once this is all combined, add the fruit. Almost exclusively, I've seen recipes call for adding fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips last. However, the more you beat flour, the tougher your baked item will be as gluten will start to form, so I gave this method a whirl. Apparently, it works just fine.

Delicious!

In a seperate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.  Gradually add it to the fruit mixture and beat on low until just combined. Divide mixture evenly between muffin cups (about 3/4 full) and top with the streusel.

Bake for 28 minutes at 350°. Allow to cool before enjoying!

Happy eating!