So with the holidays around the corner, our little bat wanted a sweet snack too! So we went to the most seasonal fruit and went ahead to do a seasonally inspired snack! That’s right, the star fruit here is Cranberry! So our muffins are gonna be rich in antioxidants! However, we wanted to try and bring in that red and green vibe to our muffins, so we went ahead and added some pumpkin seeds to the mix. Now pumpkin seeds bring more than just color and a nutty flavor, they bring a good deal of fiber, some proteins, and a potassium boost to the table, so why not?
Now the picture here is of our cake, however, we really do suggest muffins for this mix. The mixture is so soft and fluffy it’s really perfect for muffins! However, it works too as a soft cake as you can see in our photo.
Ingredients
- Oats
- Coconut
- Almonds
- Baking Soda
- Cranberries
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Orange Juice
- Vodka
- Tonic Water
- Honey
- Caraway Seeds
- Aniseed
- Cardamom
- Cloves
Method
Now this time we need to start by prepping up our cranberries! We want them happy and in the holiday mood so we’re going to let them bathe in a vodka and orange drink, just to get them slightly tipsy, with a touch of caraway and aniseed! For a healthier muffin, use fresh orange juice and fresh cranberries if you can, in that case, you might want to cook the cranberries in the orange juice and vodka with a few caraway seeds and aniseed. I had dried cranberries so I simply soaked mine for a couple of hours. I will be using less honey cos of the extra sweetness the dried cranberries will bring to the mix, the same would apply if you are using a sweetened orange juice.
Next, we need to prepare our flour. Now for the fluffy mix, we need 2/5 oats, 2/5 coconuts, and 1/5 almond, the coconut will give us some extra healthy fats to fluff things up! Add in some cloves, cardamom, and some more aniseed and caraway seeds, and some baking soda. Blend everything up until you get a fine flour, add some Pumpkin seeds and give a pulse or two just to break them up a little (unless you want to leave them whole for a more esthetic effect and a more pronounced taste and texture).
Now time to mix everything up. Mix the cranberries and the liquid they have been soaking into to the dry ingredients, add some honey to taste (we have nothing that cannot be eaten raw so easy to taste this recipe and adjust the sweetness to your preferred level), and add some tonic water. Bake in a pre-heated oven and your fluffy cake or muffins are done!
Variations
If you want a harder cake you can increase the amount of almonds, while oats will make the cake heavier. You can also add some star anise to the mix, they are very close to aniseed as flavor. Some pumpkin spice may increase the holiday cheer (we just wanted some different holiday taste cos we kinda had an overdose of that). Or maybe you just want to add a little extra kick with some ginger or just some added warmth with some cinnamon, both could also work on their own. Hope you enjoy our mix, it can be made with a very few amount of honey as the spices and cranberries give such a lovely taste! Any ingredients you would add or remove from this mix? Would you be interested in trying this recipe with one of our other cakes and bakes and creating your own hybrid muffin or cake? We’re curious to hear your thoughts!