Nothing says summer to me than a big bowl of cherries. I have always eaten them fresh but this year decided to experiment with baking them. What a great discovery! I love the tartness of the cherries with the sweetness of baking. Today I'm going to post one muffin recipe with two options - either cherry almond or cherry coconut. Both are delicious!
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| Cherry Almond (left) & Cherry Coconut (right) |
Cherry Muffins
(adapted from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice)
- 2 cups white, unbleached or white whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping cup pitted cherries, coarsely chopped
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar or 1/2 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
- for Coconut version: 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- for Almond version: 1/2 cup slivered almonds & 1 teaspoon almond extract
*In a small bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt.
*Toss cherries with 1 tablespoon flour and set aside.
*In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla (and almond extract if making the almond version). Beat 3 minutes.
*By hand alternate mixing in flour and milk.
*Fold in sour cream, cherries and coconut or almonds.
*Spoon into muffin tin, filling almost full. Sprinkle with coconut or almonds.
*Bake 18-22 minutes.
*Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then put on wire racks to cool.
I also made a batch of mini muffins with no coconut. The kids loved them.
Enjoy!
-C :)
