As most of you know… I am the QUEEN of the lightened-up recipe!

It’s become my cup of tea, so to speak… I even “skinnied” this recipe from Truvia® a little bit more.  It’s just not that often that I put an entire cube of butter in my recipes- especially a breakfast muffin.  If you follow my blog then you already know I love replacing 1/2 – 3/4 of the fat with Neufchatel Cream Cheese (low fat) this works well for cookies or anything that needs to hold a free form. If the recipe is baked in a rimmed pan I like to replace half the fat with applesauce or fat free greek yogurt.

I usually cut down on the sugar some too but another awesome product is Truvia® Baking Blend- have y’all tried it?  It works like a charm and Truvia® Baking Blend blends Truvia® natural sweetener and sugar to provide a sugar-like taste and texture for recipes, with 75% fewer calories than sugar.

 Truvia® company (or brand) is hosting a #Healthier Holiday Baking Sweepstakes which is a Healthier Holidays Baking Kit!  It’s simple to enter and you gotta check out all the reduced-calorie sweets recipes too!  There are tonz of ideas for keeping sweets on the menu while not using sugar.

Cranberry Orange Muffins with Truvia® Baking Blend are mouth-watering delicious… it’s hard to beat cranberry and orange all baked up together!

Yield: 12

Cranberry Orange Muffins with Truvia® Baking Blend

Print

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 11 ⁄2 tsp baking powder
• 1 ⁄2 tsp salt
• 1 ⁄2 tsp baking soda
• 1 ⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 oz neufchatel cream cheese, softened
• 1 ⁄3 cup Truvía® Baking Blend
• 1 Tbsp orange zest
• 1 ⁄2 cup orange juice
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ⁄2 cup skim milk
• 11 ⁄2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Prepare muffin tin by greasing cups or use paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Mix together with a fork.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, cream cheese, Truvía® Baking Blend, orange zest and juice, eggs, vanilla and milk.
5. Stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.
6. Fold in chopped cranberries.
7. Fill each muffin cup about 3⁄4 full.
8. Bake until golden and a toothpick comes out clean (20–25 minutes).
9. Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

* I adapted this recipe from Truvia® brand

Cranberry Orange Muffins with Truvia® Baking Blend are perfect for a brunch this time of year- I just can’t get enough of cranberry and orange flavors at the Holidays!

Check out WCw/R’s Lightened-up Holiday Baking- Enjoy the Season Pinterest board… it’s full of delicious “skinnied” recipes to inspire you with some reduced-calorie-but-you-wont-even-know-it Holiday Baking ideas 🙂

A little more…

Truvia® natural sweetener is a great tasting, zero-calorie sweetener made with the best tasting part of the stevia leaf. One packet provides the same sweetness as two teaspoons of sugar, and is great in coffee, tea, or even your morning grapefruit. The sweetener is available in 40-, 80- and 140-count boxes, and in a spoonable jar.  For more info, check out Truvia.com/recipes or follow them on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube channels.

I love Holidays but some years they don’t LOVE me back!  Truvia® brand is the perfect way to reduce calories and still enjoy every part of the Holidays without any of the guilt.

Have a super awesome weekend and Happy Holiday Baking!

xoxo~ Ruthie

* This is a sponsored post but the opinions expressed are my own and genuine.