"Gourmet" Muffins from a $0.50 Mix

I am a bit embarrassed to confess this, but there are moments when I 

feel like I just don't have time to even cream butter and sugar together....

The pace of this season in my life feels a little frantic, so making an array

of home-baked good feels like an unreachable goal, but my kids love

sweets and treats.

The other night, I looked in my fridge and saw half of a bag of cranberries

left over and I remembered that I had one of those $0.50 blueberry muffin mixes.

Now, on their own, the muffin mixes can be gross, but with a few "extra" ingredients, I realized that I can make "gourmet" muffins!

Take 1 package of your dry muffin mix....

Add-ins:

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk (this was an original ingredient from the package)

1 egg

1/3-1/2 cup flour

1/2 bag of cranberries

sugar for sprinking

I just mixed in all the extras but the cranberries.  Add enough flour to

make a thick, almost paste-like consistency.

Add in the cranberries and spoon into muffin papers.

I then like to sprinkle about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar over the top of the muffins.

Bake at 425 degrees about 15-18 minutes, just until the tops are brown.

You'll end up with "homemade" muffins in no time.......and no creaming involved!!

Do you have any creative "shortcuts"??