Name: Harvest Muffins (Reduced Sugar)
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Ingredients: 1¼ cups dried cranberries; ¾ cup pecans , toasted and chopped fine; 6 tablespoons unsalted butter; ¾ cup apple cider; ⅔ cup buttermilk; 2 large eggs; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; ¼ teaspoon grated orange zest; 2⅓ cups (11⅔ ounces/331 grams) all-purpose flour; 1½ teaspoons baking powder; ¾ teaspoon baking soda; 1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground allspice; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves; 1¼ cups peeled and shredded sweet potato (1 small potato)

Why This Recipe Works

We hoped that apple cider would provide enough sweetness and depth of flavor to carry the muffins, but quickly realized that this wasn't the case; the first batches, made with apple cider in place of granulated sugar, turned out inedibly bland. To fix this, we added lots of warm, aromatic spices, a full tablespoon of vanilla, and a bit of orange zest, which gave the muffins a flavor profile reminiscent of hot mulled cider. We also found that browning the butter rounded out the muffins' flavor with toasty, nutty notes. But even with the added flavorings, the muffins weren't quite sweet enough. We decided to stir in sweet-tart dried cranberries, which complemented the other flavors in the muffins perfectly and gave us bites of sweet flavor. But it still wasn't enough; tasters wanted more overall sweetness in the muffin batter. We tried pureeing the cranberries and stirring the puree into the batter, but the flavor of the cranberries was lost and we didn't achieve a dramatic increase in sweetness. In search of other sources of sweetness, we came up with an unusual solution: a shredded sweet potato. The potato's natural sugars and subtle, earthy flavor proved to be just what our muffins needed. Simply stirring the raw shreds into the batter dramatically upped the sweetness of the muffins. Be sure to use raw, not cooked, sweet potato in this recipe.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tin. Finely chop ¼ cup cranberries and combine with ¼ cup pecans; set aside for topping.

Melt butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly, until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer browned butter to large bowl; let cool slightly.

Whisk apple cider, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and orange zest into browned butter until smooth. In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, salt, and cloves together. Using rubber spatula, stir in butter mixture until combined. Fold in sweet potato, remaining 1 cup cranberries, and remaining ½ cup pecans.

Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups and sprinkle with reserved cranberry-pecan mixture. Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking.

Let muffins cool in tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes before serving.