Cranberry Pecan Muffins

As I washed a bowl of fresh cranberries for these muffins, I couldn't help but think they looked like a bowl full of rubies. They're such shiny, deep red lovely jewels, and I was so entranced by their beauty I popped one in my mouth raw, and was quickly snapped back to reality by the bitter little trickster.

When cranberries are sweetened up a bit, they're one of my favorite fruits on earth, and it always disturbs me when I can't find real cranberry juice when I'm on a road trip. Once I was standing in a gas station illuminated by the sick urine color of the  flourescent lights glaring at the beverage case when an employee asked me if I was OK. Being in a certain sort of mood, I stated that no, I was not OK. I wanted real cranberry juice, and was not interested in going to the grocery store to get some. He gestured to the Ocean Spray, and I told him that was just sugar water with cranberry flavor, and nary a real cranberry was involved in that drink, He instantly got as far away from me as possible, clearly not caring or understanding my concerns. I left unfulfilled, and realized I was making unrealistic expectations of ghetto Spur.

Lucky for me it's cranberry season, and I scored 5 lbs of fresh cranberries on sale, so I've been having a lot of fun making all sorts of cranberry treat experiments this last week!

Cranberry Pecan Muffins

- 3 1/2 cups flour

-1 cup sugar

- 2 cups buttermilk

-stick melted butter

-2 eggs

-1 1/2 cup chopped cranberries

-1/2 cup chopped pecans

-1 1/2 T. baking powder

-1 t. baking soda

-1 t. salt

-2 t. cinnamon

-1 t. ginger

-1 t. nutmeg

-1 t.vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and like muffin tins with paper. Combine dry and wet ingredients in two bowls and whisk to combine.  Fold wet into dry until just combined, then fold in cranberries and pecans. Spoon evenly into muffin tins and bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

Cranberries go well with just about every spice and nut, so go ahead and experiment a little. I am partial to the pecan/cran combo myself.

 This one barely survived it's photo shoot!