Holiday calls for cranberry-walnut muffins

We have kids arriving tomorrow from Virginia, California, and Pittsburgh for the holiday. I love that they'll be here all weekend, and I'm filling up the house with food before they get here.

I have ham and beans cooking in the slow cooker now, and I just baked up some cranberry-walnut muffins. The kitchen smells so good. For the muffins, I added grated orange peel to the batter, and then stirred in chopped cranberries and chopped walnuts. When the muffins were still warm, I brushed them with butter and dipped them into granulated sugar. I'll freeze them when they cool and pull them out to thaw Thanksgiving morning to serve for breakfast. I can also throw some of these into a basket with dinner rolls when it's time for turkey dinner.

For best results when making muffins, grease and flour your muffin pans, rather than using paper liners.

Cranberry-walnut muffins

2 cups white all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1-1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, finely diced in the food processor
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
Shortening and flour for the muffin pans

Heat oven to 375 degrees (350 convection). Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda in medium bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in half of dry ingredients. Beat in one-third of the yogurt. Add orange peel. Beat in remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with yogurt, until incorporated. Stir in cranberries and walnuts.

Grease muffin pans and dust with flour. Divide batter among cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes (20 or so if using convection). Cool muffins in pan five minutes. Remove muffins from pan to cool on wire rack. Brush with melted butter and roll each muffin in granulated sugar to coat the top.