These muffins are a new favorite in our home.
Bursting with seasonal sweet oranges and tart cranberries, these muffins are naturally sweetened and higher in protein than most bakery muffins, but they taste just as delicious.
I used coconut flour to create this recipe because it’s an economical grain-free flour– just a small amount goes a long way! However, using this flour does come with its own set of challenges, such as requiring real eggs for structure and much more moisture than traditional recipes call for. It’s almost impossible to make any substitutions in a recipe calling for coconut flour, so if you don’t want to use coconut flour, you may be better off modifying one of my Paleo Almond Flour muffin recipes or my vegan Buckwheat Banana Muffins, instead.
Oranges and cranberries are the perfect match in these moist and tender muffins, so I hope you enjoy them this holiday season!
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Orange Cranberry Coconut Flour Muffins (Paleo)
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
3/4 cup coconut flour (I use this brand)
6 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice (from 2 oranges, or 6-8 clementines)
Zest of one orange (about 2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup, at room temperature
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh cranberries
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F and line a standard muffin tin with 12 baking cups. (Silicone baking cups work best with coconut flour; parchment cups tend to stick a bit.) In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut flour, eggs, orange juice, zest, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Use a whisk to mix well, breaking up any clumps, then fold in the fresh cranberries.
Divide the batter among the 12 cups, then bake at 350F for 23-25 minutes, until the edges are golden the centers of the muffins feel firm to a light touch. Allow the muffins to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Since these muffins are very moist, leftovers should be stored in the fridge for best shelf life, but bring them to room temperature again before serving for best flavor and texture.
Orange Cranberry Coconut Flour Muffins (Paleo)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup coconut flour (I use this brand)
- 6 eggs
- 1/2 cup orange juice (from 2 oranges, or 6-8 clementines)
- Zest of one orange (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup , at room temperature
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a standard muffin tin with 12 baking cups. (Silicone baking cups work best with coconut flour; parchment cups tend to stick a bit.)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut flour, eggs, orange juice, zest, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Use a whisk to mix well, breaking up any clumps, then fold in the fresh cranberries.
- Divide the batter among the 12 cups, then bake at 350F for 23-25 minutes, until the edges are golden the centers of the muffins feel firm to a light touch. Allow the muffins to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
- Since these muffins are very moist, leftovers should be stored in the fridge for best shelf life, but bring them to room temperature again before serving for best flavor and texture.
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 148, Fat: 7g, Carbohydrates: 15g, Fiber: 3g, Protein: 3g
Notes:
- Please see my comments above this recipe if you want to replace the eggs or coconut flour.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite flour to use for baking? Any flours you’d like me to work with next?
I’m eager to try this coconut flour, I confess I have never heard of it! Marvelous looking muffins, the perfect thing to whip up Wednesday night to be enjoyed for a quick and easy Thanksgiving breakfast (while watching the Macy’s parade of course!) And I was just reading that cranberries have among the most anti-agin, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory antioxidants of any fruit! Which of course makes these even better. And that the components of cranberries may prevent some bacteria such as E. coli from clinging to the walls of the urinary tract and causing infection. All the more reason to put them in more recipes. Looking forward to other flours your readers have you try and learning about them =)
Coconut flour is very inexpensive at Trader Joe’s! I made these in a mega muffin tin (makes 6 instead of 12), and they were GREAT!
No Trader Joe’s around here, but TJ Maxx does the trick!
Coconut flour is reasonable at Greatland Target. So many things are a great price at Target. Love Trader’s but Target is another store to shop and compare for the many items we purchase.
I am on a strict diet currently to heal my gut. I am required to stay away from grains, starches and sugar for starters. This recipe looks so amazing… but I wonder if it would turn out if I just omitted the maple syrup? Has anyone tried this yet?
I also on a healing elimination diet, with almost no added sugars. I made these using coconut sugar instead of the maple syrup, and they turned out great. Of the actual sugars, as far as I can tell coconut sugar is lowest on the glycemic index, and it tastes great!
Monk fruit is rated zero on the glycemic index. It contains no calories and no carbs but you can’t substitute pure monk fruit 1:1. Even monk fruit “sweeteners,” which have some combo of monk fruit and erythritol, can’t be susbtituted 1:1 in large quantities (e g., Anything over a couple or a few tablespoons). I’m not very good at using monk fruit as a substitute yet because my results are hit and miss but if anyone has any suggestions, please share!
Amazing – I am not a cranberry fan but will maybe try it with orange and spices:) I love coconut flour but it can be a tricky beast so more coconut flour recipes would be fabulous:)
I used frozen cherries instead of fresh cranberries because that’s what I had on hand and they turned out well. The cherries were a little big so I had to cut them and let them thaw a bit first but otherwise followed the recipe and they were a big hit!
YES! I love these! I have tons of coconut flour that needs to be muffin-d, and I’ve been looking for a place to put my leftover homemade cranberry sauce. I’m going to try this recipe using my cranberry sauce in place of fresh cranberries – will let ya know how it turns out!!
Hi Megan! Thanks for another great recipe! I just might fix for Thurs. a.m. As far as other flours to try……..maybe an “all-purpose blend” of flours (that don’t include wheat) but comes up with a similar texture to wheat. My husband likes the heartiness of wheat plus the flavor but doesn’t like when it’s super heavy. I’ve used wheat pastry, etc. or a blend but now I need to stay away from wheat – it makes me sleepy! I love your gingerbread! Actually, all your recipes I’ve tried are awesome. It’s so hard to wait until June for your cookbook! 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving to You & Your Family!
God Bless You!
Do you think that flax eggs would work? I recently made vegan brownies made with coconut flour and flax eggs and they were good. I don’t like eggs.. I’ll rarely use maybe 1 or 2 in some kinds of baking, but 6 will probably be too eggy for me.
Thanks!
I made these with 4 flax eggs and 2 real eggs and they turned out fine!
Agreed, coconut flour is so touchy to work with. Thankfully you mastered these muffins so I can make them later this week! Pinned!
Yes please….buckwheat flour would be great. Or quinoa flour!
Yay Megan! Woke up an hour ago wondering what to bake for the library ladies’ tea and there you are with one of your fabulous recipes. I was going to go for the strawberry muffins but the cranberries are such a nice wintery touch. You’re a star. Thank you! Big hug for you and yours 🙂
what can I replace the maple syrup without adding any of the sugars or sugar replacement? what would applesauce do instead?
I love the cranberry orange combination! I rarely use coconut flour, but will definitely try these!
These will be perfect for Christmas morning! They’ll make the house smell so good! I’m always looking for ways to use fresh cranberries.
Could I substitute the fresh cranberries with dried ones?
Fabulous Cranberry Orange Muffins!
I did find the maple syrup sunk to the bottom LOL
Must be due to it coming from fridge (and not at room temperature as you suggested)
I used frozen cranberries as all fresh were gone. Worked beautifully!
Half of them are gone as I just made them for family breakfast snack 🙂
I just made these and they were SO GOOD! My husband loved them too. I didn’t think they were done when I took them out of the oven after 25 minutes… they seemed too wet still. I know you wrote that they would be moist so I decided to let them cool for a bit, prob half an hour, and they were definitely done! And delicious! Thank you, Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Sound, and look, great! 🙂
I think I might try this recipe with water and pure orange extract in place of the orange juice and maybe some water and stevia in place of the maple syrup.
Do you cook the fresh cranberries first?
No, they become tender when baked in the muffins.
Made these and they came out golden and beautiful after 25 minutes in the oven. Let them sit for 15 minutes and then oh my goodness they are delicious! I had to substitute pomegranate seeds for cranberries (not as festive) but still taste fantastic! Thank you for the recipe! I love using coconut oil 🙂
Oh and I put the ingredients in my recipe keeper and the nutrition facts aren’t bad at all…
8 grams of fat, 157 calories and only 17.5 grams of carbs. Again, I used pomegranate seeds instead of cranberries so it may vary slightly, but this is a muffin I can feel good about enjoying throughout the holidays 🙂
I just made these for Thanksgiving morning. They are the best muffins I have ever tasted! Made all the better knowing how healthy they are. This is the first time I’ve used coconut flour as a stand alone flour. It’s wonderful! Thank you Megan!
Have you tried your recipe cooking it in a loaf type mold instead of cupcake? If not, what is your thought on how it would come out?
Thanks
I made it in a 9×9 cake pan and just cooked it about 15 minutes longer until a knife poked in the middle came out clean. Worked wonderfully.
America’s Test Kitchen has a cookbook called “The How Can It Be Gluten Free,” which has very thorough descriptions of testing/rating they’ve done of many store-bought and home-made gluten-free flours. They have developed a particular mix of gluten-free flours that they feel works best to replicate the characteristics of bread flour, etc. There are many recipes, which include information about why and how the various flours work in those particular recipes. Well worth trying.
Great recipe! I used lemon juice and zest and frozen blueberries with the same liquid and dry proportions and they turned out beautifully!
These are pretty good. Better than nothing. I think I just don’t like the flavors too well. I make a paleo chocolate gingerbread cranberry cake that I like a lot better. 3 out of 4 of my kids liked these a lot so I will give it a 4 instead of 3. Thinking this might be a good base recipe, like applejuice and chunks of apples or white grapejuice and bananas…
These are delicious! Thanks!
They sound wonderful, do they freeze?
Thanks Megan for the delicious recipe. I made these with dried cranberries and they came out so good. My husband ate more than half of the batch in two days.
These muffins look like a great breakfast option for those days when I’m in a hurry. I am always on the hunt for great recipes that use only coconut flour since I have issues with some nut flours. I imagine these aren’t too sweet and that’s what I have been looking for. I’ve never experimented with orange and cranberry so I can’t wait to try them!
Another 5 star recipe….We love them! Thank you!
made these for day after Christmas breakfast….HUGE hit!!!
completely delicious muffins!!!
Hey! Was just wondering if there was any substitute for the maple syrup? Doing Whole 30 and that is not compliant but I didn’t want to lose some of the moisture needed to offset the coconut flour!
Made these Saturday, and I have to say they are the best Paleo muffins I have made yet!! I did substitute honey, as I was out of syrup. I also added the pulp from the Orange that was left in my juicer. Fabulous,Thank you!!
Lots of love from Finland! This recipe was a literal life saver! I’m badly allergic to dairy and starch, which makes paleo diet closest from any diets I can follow, and even it has many ingredients I can’t use (without getting a food poisoning).
I have been disheartened after I needed to give up with all the treats, cakes, chocolate, cookies, candies, ice cream ect. We celebrated First of May with closest friends, and while they had pancakes, I tried to figure out what I could bake so that I would also be able to eat it.
I stumbled to your recipe and it looked really promising! I changed it a bit, as I didn’t have orange juice – replaced it with peach nectar – and left the baking soda out as it has starch. Berries where changed to blueberries, as I used to love to eat blueberry muffins, and I always have blueberries in freezer.
Nervously I took the muffins out from the oven and gave them first taste. It was magic! The best muffins I have ever had! The peach nectar was awesome and I recommend you to try it out. It was thick, sweet and smooth, giving the muffins a fluffy taste, as my friend described it (I tried today the same recipe with orange juice and the difference is big, as the muffins became more fresh tasting). I used frozen berries, which left the muffins very moist, soft and fluffy – I often have had problems with coconut flour, as the baking tends to come out dry. But not with this recipe!
So, thank you very much for this! I’m going to use the base for my own try-outs, like rhubarb, strawberries, lime juice, macadamia nuts ect. now that I have found a recipe which makes very tasty, starch free muffins!
My family LOVES these! I substitute orange juice for Lemon juice and cranberries for raisins and my (anti-paleo) husband can’t even tell they’re grain free! Thank you so much! These are one of my families favorites!
Hello,
Ive just made these, and used dates instead of the cranberries. Is the mixture meant to be runny? As my was moist but not runny when I put them in the tin. They smell yum while baking though.
Made these tonight and ate one fresh out of the oven, I know, they’re suppose to cool, but I couldn’t wait. Yum. I had another after they were almost cool and OMG they are amazing. So excited to have such a delicious recipe. Thank you!
Maple syrup is expensive. How can I still make your recipes but switch out some maple syrup for a cheaper sweetener that would still work. And what would that ratio be. I assume since syrup is a liquid….all that moisture is necessary
Hi, I’d love to try these! Can these muffins be frozen once cooked? What do you recommend? thanks 🙂
Mine were a little dry… any thoughts as to why?
I just used this recipe to make coconut blackberry muffins for some of my fellow CrossFitter buddies! They turned out great. Thanks for this recipe.
Downer. These were terrible and way too dry. I’ve made goods with coconut flour before and it was fine. Maybe should use less flour next time. Yuck.
I’m sorry to hear that! Did you level off the 3/4 cup measure of coconut flour? Sometimes a heaping cup could yield bad results. Otherwise, I’m not sure why they would be dry– there’s over 2 cups of liquid ingredients in this recipe!
I simply love this recipe! I have made it so many times and it is always a success, compared to many other coconut flour recipes. I’ve done various flavor combinations such as using lemon zest instead of orange or substituting fresh cranberries for dried cherries or frozen raspberries. It always turns out tasty! This last time I used 4 flax eggs and 2 real eggs and the muffins turned out fine, although they don’t hold together as well as using 6 real eggs. Thanks for this recipe!
Love these! They are delicious, adaptable and reliable. I just made pumpkin muffins with canned pumpkin and molasses in lieu of orange juice and maple syrup. A touch of cinnamon, nutmeg and pecans instead of cranberries. Perfection! Also, for those wondering, I use 4 flax “eggs” and 2 real eggs to make them more “bread-y” and they hold together pretty well. Next time may try it with all 6 flax “eggs”. Wondering, has anyone else tried this? Thanks!
wondering if I can cut the recipe in half to make baked doughnuts. I’ve made the chocolate grain free ones and they’re terrific!
I haven’t tried it myself, but that sounds like a great idea!
I love this recipe. I make it with rhubarb as I have so much of it and it’s now ready to harvest again this spring. I make it into a cake using a 9 x 9 pan. It is one of my favorite cake recipes – light, moist, not too sweet and it just feels good eating it!
I am wondering Megan what this is when it comes to food combining. I would think animal protein because of all the eggs but would like to know for sure Megan as we are trying to follow your food combining suggestions.
Imade these this morning using frozen cranberries and they were delicious! Next time, I’m making a double batch for sure. Truly one of my favorite recipes from your site. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe. The balance of moisture to coconut flour is what truly makes these perfect. I have played around with it and modified it for other fruits… for a sweeter berry version (I like raspberry or blueberry best) I reduce the maple syrup to 1/4 cup and put in 3/4 cup coconut milk instead of the OJ. This still keeps a full cup of moisture in the recipe but makes it less sweet. I switch out the orange zest for lemon zest and then mix in freeze dried raspberries or blueberries. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes so that the freeze dried berries absorb moisture. I found that using fresh berries made the muffins way to wet on the second or third day so I switched to the freeze dried berries and they worked perfectly. The muffins keep well in the fridge for days. I love them! I live of them. Thank you so much! Sprinkle the tips with cinnamon sugar for an extra treat. Thank you so much! You are so talented!
Thank you for letting me know, and for sharing your modifications for other fruits!
Huge Hit at bible study. So moist and delish. I added a couple drops of orange EO as I only had 1 orange and had to do half orange/half lemon juice. Excellent low cal muffins. Thanks!
Can you use half a cup of oranges add some if you don’t get half a cup to thes recipe?
Super yummy recipe – we just have tons of cranberries in the garden and what a great use for them! This might just become a staple 🙂
This is AMAZING. I didn’t have fresh or frozen cranberries so I used frozen cherries. I also didn’t have muffin cups so I ended throwing all the batter into a baking dish. I had to bake it longer (approximately 10-12 minutes). I was surprised at how good this was. My son and husband loved it as well!