Kick off your Independence Day celebration this year with red, white and blue muffins. Moist, fluffy muffins load with red cranberries, blueberries and topped with a sweet white streusel topping.

My family loves walking up to piping, hot muffins and one of their favorites is Blueberry Streusel Muffins. I decided it would be fun to dress them up for the 4th of July by adding dried cranberries and sprinkling them with red, white and blue sanding sugar.

The dried cranberries added a great texture as well as a little tartness to the muffins. The colored sugars added to the fun red, white and blue theme, but they’re definitely optional if you don’t have them at home.

We always have barbecued ribs on the 4th of July. This year I’ll serve the ribs with Quick Potato Salad made in the Pressure Cooker, plenty of fresh fruit and corn on the cob. For dessert, some easy-to-make Fresh Berry Parfaits. When the sun goes down we’ll be celebrating with fireworks in the street and end the day with a bang.

How about you? How will you be celebrating this 4th of July?

Yield: 12 muffins

4th of July Blueberry Cranberry Muffins

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Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

Muffins

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Streusel Topping

• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• red, white and blue sanding sugar, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or vegetable oil, or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Prepare streusel topping: combine sugar and flour in a small bowl. Mix in oil with a fork until well combined and sandy; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and milk and mix until well combine. Add flour mixture and stir just until blended.
5. Stir in blueberries and cranberries.
6. Divide batter evenly into 12 muffin cups.Sprinkle muffins with streusel topping. Sprinkle streusel topping with red, white and blue sanding sugar.
7. Bake for for 20 to 25 min, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes in the pans.
8. Remove muffins from pans and cool on a wire rack.