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11.04.17

Pecan Cranberry Orange Muffins {Paleo, Dairy-Free}

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These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

I think my favorite thing to bake is muffins.   Recently, at least.

You see, I’ve had quite an adventure baking 5 batches of cookies over the past few days, and I don’t think I’ve ever had to go to batch #5 for muffins.  Batch 4, yes, but that last one was probably just to make sure batch 3 was a keeper.

This is of no interest to you, probably, but for me it means that (for now) muffins are my happy place.

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

Did I mention they’re actually FUN to photograph too?   And that is saying a lot, because I find so. many. foods. very UN-FUN to shoot.  For example, meat, eggs (I love them, but not easy!), brownies and bars, loaves of bread.  But muffins?  A delight, almost every time.

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

But right, we’re talking about THESE muffins today, not just any muffins.  And what I want you to know about them, is that they’re just as (if not more) easy and delicious as they are photogenic.

I based these pecan cranberry orange muffins on my orange almond poppyseed muffins and cranberry orange coffee cake – two of my favorites – so I knew these would be winners before I got them in the oven.

Luckily, my prediction came true and they were awesome – perfectly spiced, lots of orange flavor in the muffin and great rise and texture.  If you’ve been baking paleo for a while, you know the texture can be all over the place – from dense and too moist to chalky and dry.

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

If you’ve been baking paleo for a while, you know the texture can be all over the place – from dense and too moist to chalky and dry.

Sometimes (not always) that can be due to the coconut flour in a recipe. Since it absorbs so much moisture, small changes can make big differences in the finished product.

While I love coconut flour and use it in lots of recipes, I decided to go without it this time, which really makes this recipe foolproof, in my opinion, since the other ingredients used are far more forgiving.

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

As for the cranberries, I somewhat recently found delicious fruit-sweetened dried cranberries on Amazon and have been using them in everything – sweet (like this recipe) to savory (like my stuffed squash and Thanksgiving stuffing).  They’re delicious and incredibly versatile, and of course perfect for the holiday season (and beyond!)

If you’re looking for paleo friendly (refined sugar free) dried cranberries, I’d definitely recommend trying them.  The cranberries are linked above, and below with the recipe.

Are you ready to get started?  I have a feeling you’ll love baking (and eating) these cranberry orange muffins as much as I did.  Let’s go!

Pecan Cranberry Orange Muffins {Paleo, Dairy-Free}

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

Pecan Cranberry Orange Muffins {Paleo, Dairy-Free}

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

Author: Michele Rosen
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Course: baking, Breakfast, Breakfast/Brunch/Treat, Holiday
Cuisine: dairy-free, grain free, Paleo
Servings: 12
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Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review
4.62 from 13 votes

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs room temp
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
  • 2 tsp finely grated orange zest or zest of 1 large orange
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil melted and cooled to almost room temp
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or a combo of vanilla and almond extract
  • 2 cups blanched almond flour
  • 1/3 cup tapioca flour or arrowroot
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cloves or allspice
  • 2/3 cup raw pecan halves chopped
  • 2/3 cup dried cranberries fruit sweetened

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffins pan with parchment liners, or lightly grease with coconut oil.

  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, set aside.

  3. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, orange juice and zest, coconut oil, and vanilla extract (almond extract if using). 

  4. Using a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just moistened.  Fold in the pecans and cranberries, then spoon the mixture into muffin cups about 3/4 of the way up (I made 12).  

  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until just done and a toothpick inserted in the center of 1 comes out clean - these bake quickly and overtaking can dry them out!   Muffins will have rounded tops and very light golden color when done.

  6. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on wire racks.  Store any leftovers at room temperature, loosely covered for one day, afterwards they can be stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days and lightly defrosted/softened in the toaster oven or oven.  Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 254kcal
Carbohydrates: 17g
Protein: 6g
Fat: 19g
Saturated Fat: 5g
Cholesterol: 54mg
Sodium: 175mg
Potassium: 76mg
Fiber: 3g
Sugar: 11g
Vitamin A: 95IU
Vitamin C: 3.9mg
Calcium: 63mg
Iron: 1.2mg

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @PaleoRunningMomma on Instagram and hashtag it #PaleoRunningMomma

What I Used To Make My Pecan Cranberry Orange Muffins:

These soft, moist, and flavorful paleo cranberry orange muffins are studded with pecans and spiced just right! Great for the holidays or year round, these muffins are kid approved, gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free.

Want More Paleo Muffin Recipes?  Try One of These!

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Raisin Muffins

Orange Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Paleo Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping

Apple Coffee Cake Muffins with Crumb Top

Simple Paleo Blueberry Muffins

Double Chocolate Tahini Banana Muffins

Almond Butter Banana Muffins

Tell Me!

What’s your favorite thing to bake?

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Paleo Running Momma!

You Might Also Like...

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  • Paleo Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins {Nut Free}
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About Michele

More than a little into running and paleo recipes (yoga now too!) but I'm not here to rain on your grains (or anything else) so come along for the ride! I do a little too much of everything (except cleaning), and I enjoy laughing at myself. As long as I'm the one making the jokes, that is. Just kidding. So bring me your angst, your appetite and your frying pan and climb aboard!

Reader Interactions

Reader Reviews & Comments

  1. Emily Swanson says

    November 4, 2017 at 10:43 am

    You always do such a wonderful amazing job on any of the paleo breads; they don’t seem paleo because they’re so fluffy. I love that you mixed the flavors of cranberry, orange, and pecans, because those are all such warm delicious holiday fall flavors.

    Reply
  2. Kelly Vincent says

    November 4, 2017 at 5:31 pm

    Could fresh or frozen cranberries be used?

    Reply
  3. Leticia Zaozernaya says

    November 5, 2017 at 4:37 am

    Can I use a store bought “gluten free flour”??

    Reply
  4. Stacey Tillmanns says

    November 6, 2017 at 1:38 pm

    I struggle with paleo baking. My batter is always so dry. I know it’s something I am doing. Do you have any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      November 6, 2017 at 1:40 pm

      The only thing I can think of is that you’re over-measuring dry ingredients or under-measuring the wet. That said, some batters are thicker than you would expect – this one isn’t particularly thick, but, if you bake with coconut flour often that could be the issue – the batter will be thick no matter what. Are you measuring in dry measuring cups and leveling off the amounts, and are you using liquid measuring cups to measure liquids?

      Reply
      • Stacey Tillmanns says

        November 6, 2017 at 2:24 pm

        Second batch a success!! To much dry for sure and re read instructions to add dry to wet until the right consistency.

        Reply
        • Michele says

          November 6, 2017 at 3:27 pm

          Great!

          Reply
  5. Natalie says

    November 15, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    5 stars
    Made these last week! Loved them!

    Reply
    • Michele says

      November 15, 2017 at 4:43 pm

      So happy they worked out!

      Reply
  6. Jean says

    January 8, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    5 stars
    Made these this morning. My husband doesn’t much care for Paleo/Primal muffins, usually too dry, not sweet and grainy. He went nuts and rated them 9.5 out of 10. We rate all of our recipes to see if we really want to repeat them. I had to chase him away to not eat them all, lol. I chose this recipe because it seemed it would be the best (maple syrup instead of honey because honey has more fructose and sugars). Thanks so much! Happy wife.

    Reply
  7. Mindy says

    January 20, 2018 at 12:53 pm

    5 stars
    These are perfect and husband approved! I just love all of your recipes.

    Reply
  8. Carol says

    September 26, 2018 at 11:19 am

    What changes would you recommend to make these keto?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      September 30, 2018 at 10:05 am

      I’m not sure – you’d definitely need to sub the sweetener but I’m not familiar with which one and how much to use.

      Reply
  9. Jennifer Goemaat says

    December 28, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    5 stars
    These muffins are so delicious!!!! I had to make my own almond flour so it was more course than flour and my batter was a bit watery so I added a Tablespoon if coconut flour and it worked! Thank yo for sharing this recipe!

    Reply
  10. Krista says

    January 5, 2019 at 10:05 am

    How many eggs are in the recipe?

    Reply
  11. Krista Wigginton says

    January 5, 2019 at 10:08 am

    Sorry! You can ignore the egg question! An add was making them in a different place from the rest of the ingredients so I didn’t see it at first. Excited to make these for a work brunch. Thank you!

    Reply
  12. Deborah Brennan says

    January 7, 2019 at 9:00 pm

    4 stars
    I tried this recipe today. I added one ripe banana to make sure they wouldn’t be to dry and it worked perfectly! Also cooked the muffins for about 5 minutes extra in the oven as we like well done muffins in our house! Thank you for sharing, is a great recipe and easy to follow.

    Reply
  13. Sherrry says

    January 20, 2019 at 11:11 am

    5 stars
    Loved these! I’m trying to convince myself gluten-free and processed sugar-free is not so bad. These are really the first “bread” category food that convinced me that YES! I Can Do This.

    Reply
  14. Rennae Walsh says

    March 31, 2019 at 11:03 am

    I just found you this week, and I have to say thank you, for your amazing recipes!! I made your almond butter chocolate chip banana bread and these delicious muffins so far, and will definitely be trying out more of your recipes. Awesome flavors and texture!

    Reply
  15. Jess s. says

    April 26, 2019 at 6:48 pm

    I cant wait to try these! I was just wondering can I make these nut free? And can I use frozen cranberries?

    Reply
    • Michele says

      April 29, 2019 at 3:54 pm

      I have a nut-free lemon blueberry muffin recipe that you might be able to use for cranberries. I’ll link it here:

      Reply
  16. Tammy Turner says

    February 18, 2020 at 7:15 am

    I made these and they were delicious and moist. My muffins were done in 15 min. I just check them on and off so I think it depends on the oven. I also used king Author almond flour not the blanched kind. I will keep this recipe.

    Reply
  17. Diana Desmarais says

    March 29, 2020 at 8:42 am

    Can I substitute fresh frozon cranberries?

    Reply
  18. Amber says

    May 18, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    Made these tonight (without the orange juice and with Honey instead of maple syrup and applesauce instead of the oil) and they were a hit with my 7 year of Son! Mom win! Thank you!

    Reply
  19. mapquest directions says

    November 23, 2020 at 12:44 am

    I love to cook and experiment with new recipes. I will try the way you suggest. It’s not like I do. thank you for sharing. It will be better than what I do.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Classic Paleo Waffles {Grain Free, Dairy Free} | The Paleo Running Momma says:
    November 12, 2017 at 5:01 am

    […] Pecan Cranberry Orange Muffins […]

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  2. Sausage, Leek, and Spinach Quiche {Paleo, Whole30} | The Paleo Running Momma says:
    March 24, 2018 at 5:01 am

    […] Orange Pecan Cranberry Muffins […]

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  3. Sausage, Leek, and Spinach Quiche Paleo, Whole30 – Kulinerz.asia | Tips & Tutorial Resep Masakan & Kue Nusantara Indonesia – Asia says:
    March 24, 2018 at 7:42 am

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  4. Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins {Paleo, GF, DF} | The Paleo Running Momma says:
    March 25, 2018 at 5:02 am

    […] Cranberry Pecan Orange Muffins […]

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  5. Orange Gingerbread Coffee Cake {Paleo, GF, DF} | The Paleo Running Momma says:
    June 4, 2018 at 9:49 pm

    […]  But really, it VERY MUCH did.  So much so that I also made orange almond poppy seed muffins and cranberry orange pecan muffins with a similar mix of ingredients, and loved them every bit as […]

    Reply

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Hi! I’m so happy you stopped by! My name is Michele and I’m a Paleo eater and recipe creator, runner, mom of 3, and the gal behind Paleo Running Momma! Over here you’ll find real-food, clean eating family favorites that you’ll be excited to share with your loved ones. I hope you stay awhile, eat, savor, and enjoy!

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