Orange Cranberry Muffins

My favourite "snack" at McDonalds was the Orange-Cranberry Muffin. When I found the Orange Muffin recipe in Company's Coming Muffins and More Cookbook, I was happy. When I tried it with cranberries and without sugar, I was over the moon! Substituting olive oil for the margarine and using part whole wheat flour makes it even better. These freeze pretty well, and are a wonderful breakfast or coffee break snack.

1 whole unpeeled orange, washed and cut up
1/2 cup (125 ml)no-sugar-added orange juice
1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped dates
1 egg
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons (80 ml) olive oil (OR 1/2 cup/125 ml  hard margarine, softened)
1 cup (250 ml) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (175 ml) whole wheat flour
1/4 cup Splenda artificial sweetener
1 1/2 teaspoons (7 ml) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 ml) baking soda
1 cup (250 ml) dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 400*F.

Measure flours, Splenda, baking powder and soda in medium sized bowl. Make a well in the centre.

Cut orange into 7 or 8 pieces. Remove seeds. Combine orange pieces and juice in a blender. Puree. Add dates, egg and olive oil to blender. Blend.

Pour orange mixture into the well in the dry ingredients. Stir just to combine. Gently mix in cranberries.

Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Place muffin pan in the oven. After 5 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350* F. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle of one comes out clean.

Makes 12 large, 16 medium muffins.

Note: This recipe also made 3 mini loaves, which were nice when sliced and served with coffee or tea.