Eggnog Cranberry Muffins

After reading Bridget's post yesterday about healthy muffins and how most people gain a pound or two during the holiday season, I thought about trying to find another waistline-friendly treat.  Instead, I googled "what can you bake with eggnog" and I came up with this amazing recipe from Annie's Eats. These muffins taste like Christmas, so if you are craving an early taste of the holidays, try these instead of lighting and inhaling yet another fir tree scented candle.  I only made two small changes to the recipe - I used low fat eggnog (bridget will be so proud) and I did not use pecans in my streusel topping.

Eggnog Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:
For the muffins:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. granulated sugar, divided
2 large eggs
¾ cup eggnog
5 1/3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp. almond extract
1½ cups coarsely chopped cranberries

For the topping:
½ cup sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, slightly softened
½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line 14-16 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir to combine. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the sugar, eggs, eggnog, melted butter and almond extract. Stir until well combined. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Toss the chopped cranberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, and fold into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin liners, filling them about two thirds of the way full.

To make the streusel topping, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until a coarse, crumbly mixture forms. Stir in the pecans if using. Sprinkle the mixture evenly on top of the muffin batter.
Bake for about 18-22 minutes, or a until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.