Best f-in muffins ever... pumpkin cranberry...

We made pumpkin cranberry muffins today, and they might be the best muffins I've ever made. Sometimes my muffins don't rise well, or they aren't cooked enough, or something that makes them less than the best. Somehow, everything came together today-- maybe it's because I'm getting manic. That helps my cooking sometimes.

The original recipe was from Allrecipes.com but we changed bits. Like we doubled it and made a BILLION DELICIOUS MUFFINS! Also some other stuff...

4 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. salt

Sift all of those powder dry things together into a big bowl and make a well in the center (you know, dig around in the middle and make a nice indentation).

4 eggs
3 c. sugar
3 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. oil (we used walnut oil- yum!)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix all of that in another bowl, super well. If you have an eight year old that likes to whisk eggs, have him whisk for a super long time to make them as light as possible, then add everything else and mix some more.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and carefully stir-- never over stir muffin batter, it should just be lumpy without big dry spots. Then fold in:

2 c. chopped fresh cranberries (we macerated them with sugar in the fridge overnight)
1 c. chopped walnuts

Use cooking spray to grease your muffin tins-- it is so much easier than butter... Sheesh, really. Our recipe made two pans of tiny muffins (24 per pan) plus we had a little left over that we cooked in a bread pan. We filled the cups completely, kind of mounded up. That way, if they didn't rise much, we wouldn't have dinky little  flat muffins.

Bake  at 400 degrees for 10-20 minutes. Our oven is sometimes super hot, so it's hard to say how fast they might cook in your oven. If they seem to be done, stick a toothpick or sharp knife-- if it comes out clean, they're done!

Take them out of the pan right away and cool them on a rack. They are delicious hot, warm, cooler, and cold. Pretty much any temperature.