This is my second posting day for the Holiday Recipe Club. For this round of recipes everyone was required to use cranberries, pecans, or vanilla. Interested in joining? Contact me here!

I have been looking forward to posting this recipe for a few weeks. I am a big fan of fresh cranberries and try to use them often during the holiday season.

Muffins seemed like an ideal choice because I had to make these before I left for holiday break.

Things like muffins, cookies and bread tend to do better in travel!

A few weeks ago – for some reason – I decided to buy a jumbo muffin pan. (As if I don’t already have my tiny apartment stuffed to capacity…) I hadn’t had a chance to use it yet and thought this would be the perfect time.

Due to the extra large size of the muffin tins the cranberries were able to spread throughout the muffins and not overwhelm any one part.

I was able to taste cinnamon and cranberry in every bite and they smelled so good.

The dark brown color was pretty with the bright red spots of cranberry. And to make my muffins extra fun I used some left over pear butter in place of the oil.

When I first imagined these muffins coming out of the oven I saw huge buttery crumbs sitting on top.

I unfortunately forgot to make the crumbs before putting my muffins in the oven (ahem) but they were fabulous with out the extra topping.

Not a huge fan of cranberries? Try chopping them up before mixing into the flour!

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