There's something about a newborn baby at Christmas time that makes me feel nostalgic. The first holiday season we had our oldest was unlike one I had ever experienced. I could relate to Mary on a whole new level as I sat up late at night nursing my two month old and rocking him to sleep. Don't get me wrong, I was dead tired and did not always enjoy those late night feedings. But there are a few that I remember sitting in his room and this feeling of complete joy washed over me. Children bring a joy like no other and I can only imagine the immense amount of joy Mary felt knowing her child was going to be the Savior of the world. I wanted to hold onto that joy and feeling all throughout the year! I love decorating for Christmas because it's a visual reminder of the joy and hope that was given to us. I'm always reluctant to put them away because I'm afraid that in the chaos of the year to come, I'll forget. I'm holding on as tight as I can. Dear Jesus, help me remember in every season of the year that you are the reason for the season!
As I'm strategizing how I'm going to store my growing collection of Christmas decor, I'm also strategizing how I'm going to use up my leftovers! I had a couple of sweet potatoes in the pantry that needed to be used, a tad bit of flour left in my jar and a bag of cranberries in my freezer so I set to work figuring out how to use these items up. Apparently I need to go grocery shopping. I found lots of great sweet potato muffin recipes but none seemed to suite my taste. The closest I found was from Taste of Home. While the recipe looked delicious, I wanted to make some changes to make this muffin a little more clean. So I adapted it to be a clean recipe that hopefully you will enjoy! We certainly did!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour1/2 cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 large egg
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup cold baked sweet potato
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup fresh cranberries or 1 cup frozen cranberries that have been thawed
Directions:
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add all of dry ingredients and whisk until combined.2. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
3. Add wet to dry and mix on low until combined. Gently fold in whole cranberries.
4. Pour batter into jumbo muffin pan lined with parchment paper or jumbo muffin liners.
5. Bake at 375 for 20-25 or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. (reduce time for regular sized muffins to 15-20 minutes.
I absolutely LOVE making jumbo muffins! I don't think I'll ever go back! I bought myself a handy dandy ice cream scoop for my cupcake/muffin and it has helped consistency in baking and size. Definitely worth the $5.
Also, how cute is the parchment paper? I cut these a little big, but I wasn't sure how big to make them. All I did was take a sheet of parchment paper and cut it into 4 pieces.
My test if a muffin recipe is good or not is if the paper peels away without taking half the muffin with it! That's the worst! These muffins passed my test, but just barely. They are pretty moist with both the sweet potato and cranberries.
Sweet, tart and delicious!
Enjoy!
