Cranberry Orange Oat Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 large orange
• 2/3 cup of dried cranberries
• 1/3 heaping cup of oat flour (see note)
• 1 cup of unbleached, all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cardamom
• 1/4 cup of neutral flavour oil (non-GMO canola or melted coconut oil)
• 3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375'F. Using a micro plane zester, zest the orange and set zest aside.
2. Squeeze juice from the orange into a small glass measuring cup. You'll want approximately 1/2 cup of orange juice. If you don't have enough, add some water. Add the dried cranberries to the juice. Microwave cranberries in the juice for 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 10 minutes, so the cranberries soften up.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and pinch of ground cardamom.
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine the oil, the unsweetened almond milk, pure vanilla extract and orange zest. Drain the orange juice from the cranberries. They should have plumped up and softened a bit.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the cranberries and the walnuts. Spoon muffin batter into 12 greased or paper-lined muffin tins filling them each about 2/3 way full.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean or with a dry crumb. Let muffins rest in tins for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Muffins will keep up to 5 days if kept in an airtight container.
7. NOTE: To make oat flour, pulse rolled oats in a food processor until ground into a dense flour