Cranberry and Pumpkin Spice Muffins — and a matching tea!

Karen in New York commented the other day that she likes to mix Harney's Cranberry Autumn Tea with their Cinnamon Spice Tea, and that is her go-to fall tea, of which she usually drinks at least a cup each day. I remembered her unique recipe when I was making some Cranberry and Pumpkin Spice Muffins this week, and it dawned on me, "What if I mixed cranberry- and pumpkin-flavored teas?"

And so I did! I feel a little sheepish about mixing two different brands, but the Cranberry Autumn is the only fall-flavored Harney tea I have at the moment, so I brewed one of those tea sachets along with one tea bag of Republic of Tea's Pumpkin Ginger Tea. The result was great, and I could taste the Cranberry Autumn Tea that is my favorite along with a little extra something from the Pumpkin Ginger Tea. Not every tea-blending experiment I've tried has turned out well, but this one did!

And if you like the combination of pumpkin and cranberries, you might like these muffins, which Mr. Tea With Friends deemed "excellent."

Cranberry and Pumpkin Spice Muffins

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons milk

1/4 teaspoon each of ginger, allspice, and nutmeg (or more if you like)

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, combine first seven ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine spices, baking powder, salt, and flour. Add flour mixture to liquid ingredients and stir just till combined. Fold in cranberries. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon a nice heaping of batter into each cupcake liner, about 3/4 full. Bake for 22-26 minutes, just until muffins feel firm on top. Yields 12 muffins.