Cashew Cranberry Crunch Muffins

Last week of summer. Caleb's first day of first grade is Tuesday. Hazel's first day of preschool is Wednesday. My house will be EMPTY for four hours a day. I don't know what to do with this information. Caleb is ready. He's been ready since July. Captain Chomp is packed in his backpack for show-and-tell (Week 1 theme: 'Something I Love'). His clothes are laid out. His shoes are by the door. Hazel is... not ready. She alternates between 'I want to go to school like Cay-Cay!' and 'I DON'T WANT TO GO I STAY HOME WITH MAMA.' The oscillation is hourly. Di-Di is ready. Di-Di has no feelings about preschool. Di-Di is a stuffed dinosaur. Ryan, ever practical: 'They'll both be fine. They're Abernathys.' The Abernathy guarantee: we adapt. We walk into rooms. We don't look back. I spent the weekend cooking freezer meals for the first week — the way Mom used to prep for back-to-school, the way every mother prepares for chaos by pre-cooking through it. Five dinners, frozen, labeled, ready to thaw. Pot roast Monday. Enchiladas Tuesday. Chicken soup Wednesday. Meatloaf Thursday. Pizza Friday (homemade, because I have standards and also because store-bought pizza is Caleb's 'cookbook needs pizza' suggestion). Made Mom's Sunday roast tonight. The last-night-of-summer dinner. The dinner that says 'tomorrow everything changes and tonight we eat together and pretend it hasn't.' One more sleep. Two first days. An empty house. Here we go.

The Sunday roast was dinner — the ceremonial, this-is-our-last-night-together meal — but the muffins were for Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, the ones I knew would be chaotic and tender and probably involve at least one person crying (me). Mom always sent us off on first days with something warm from the oven, and I couldn’t give Caleb and Hazel the full spread she managed, but I could give them these: sweet, nutty, a little tart, the kind of thing that says “I thought about you before you were even awake.” Into the freezer they went, right alongside the pot roast and the enchiladas. The Abernathy prep continues.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup roasted salted cashews, roughly chopped
2 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (for topping)
2 tablespoons cashew pieces (for topping)

Instructions

Preheat oven. Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.
Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in the dried cranberries and chopped cashews until evenly distributed.
Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Fold together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold gently with a rubber spatula until just combined — a few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.
Fill and top. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar and the reserved cashew pieces.
Bake. Bake for 18–20 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Freeze (optional). Once completely cooled, wrap individually in plastic wrap and freeze in a zip-top bag for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight or microwave from frozen for 45–60 seconds.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cashew Cranberry Crunch Muffins — The Back-to-School Bake I Needed