Instructions

1. Cut the cranberries in half and set aside.
2. Sift together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. In a small bowl beat the egg, add the butter, hot water, orange juice and orange zest. Mix until blended.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.
5. Stir with a large spoon until moistened.
6. Fold in cranberries.
7. Using an ice cream scoop fill the wells in a muffin pan. If you like you can sprinkle some granulated sugar on top of the muffins before baking.
8. It gives them a lovely sweet crunch. I used orange sugar to top some of my muffins.
9. To make orange sugar simply add a cup of sugar to a small mason jar and add some orange zest to the jar. Stir the zest in and store. Each time you have extra zest add it to the jar to enhance the flavor.
10. You can do this with any citrus zest you may have on hand.
11. Bake about 18 to 23 minutes at 325 F. degrees oven. Cool five minutes and move to a cooling rack.