Cranberry Nut Orange Muffin Tops
This is an adaptation of our Cranberry Nut Orange Muffin Recipe. We chose this recipe 
to adapt because it's absolutely loaded with nuts and cranberries. If this will hold together, any recipe will. It worked perfectly. To make the adaptation, we simply lowered the baking temperature to 375 degrees and baked the muffin tops for 15 minutes. This is a scrumptious muffin. It is even better as muffin tops.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rye flour, all-purpose flour, or whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
4 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup walnut pieces
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tops pan.
1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir in the grated orange peel.
2. Use a pastry knife to cut the butter into the dry ingredients and continue cutting until the mixture is coarse and uniform.
3. In another bowl, stir together the orange juice, buttermilk, vanilla extract, and eggs. Form a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid mixture. Add the cranberries and nuts. Stir to combine. (Do not over-stir. Some lumps are acceptable.)
4. Spoon the batter into muffin tops tin. Place the muffin tops in the oven and bake for 15 to 16 minutes or until the tops are lightly browned. Remove the pan to a rack to cool. After a few minutes, remove the muffin tops from the tin to completely cool on a baking rack.
How to Make Muffin Tops
muffin tops are the best part of the muffin. No wonder everyone wants to make the tops only. Here are some tips to help you along.
1. Start out with a good muffin top pan. It should heat evenly and release easily.
2. Since muffin tops are a bit fragile—they are large and thin—they must slip from the pan very easily. Grease the tin well—even if your pan is nonstick. Be sure and grease around the edges to accommodate any overflow.
3. Don’t overfill your muffins.
4. Don’t expect high domes. Without having a bulk of dough under the tops, there is just not enough rise to create high domes.
5. Each muffin top is about equal to a standard muffin, maybe a little larger. So if your recipe or mix makes twelve muffins, expect about ten muffin tops. (Our muffin mixes are designed for high domes and are larger than most mixes or recipes. Expect to get 12 to 14 muffin tops.)
6. Consider buying two pans so that you can bake the whole batch at once. How to Convert a Muffin Recipe to a Muffin Tops Recipe
There are a couple adjustments that you will need to make to your favorite muffin recipe to make tops. Since they are thinner, they bake in less time. Many muffin recipes call for high heat at the beginning of the baking period to create the rise necessary for attractive domes. With muffintops, that’s not necessary. We baked our recipes at 375 degrees and they were done in 15 to 16 minutes.
Source: www.preparedpantry.com
