Large Dark Sweet Cherry Muffins
We have ordered a lot of fruit from Bithell Farms and everything that we have ever ordered is fabulous. So of course, I have a lot of frozen fruit in the freezer that is needing used up.
I don’t know if you can order from Bithell Farms as an individual. We always tack our order on with a local church or other organization that is doing it for a fund raiser. I would definitely seek out a source for this fruit.
The dark sweet cherries are our favorite thing to order. They are individually frozen and they are huge. We enjoy them in a number of ways.
- Three or four stirred into oatmeal is plenty.
- Thawed out and heated a bit with a little drizzle of cream.
- Mixed into a bowl of vanilla bean.
- Popped in your mouth plain, straight from the freezer.
My favorite recipe with these cherries has to be my Dark Sweet Cherry Pie.
Delicious!
To continue with our 2012 Clean Out, I found these cherries in the freezer and some almonds in the pantry. I have been in a baking mood so I searched for a muffin recipe. (Sorry, I didn’t have time to search through my cookbooks so I reverted back to Google searches.) I found a great recipe at Jane’s Sweets & Baking Journal for Jumbo Sweet Cherry Muffins. Actually, I am glad I did a Google search because Jane has a great blog that I will now follow.
Dark Sweet Cherry Muffins with Almonds
I added almonds and changed up the directions a bit. Otherwise, this recipe is Jane’s.
3 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. baking soda
3/4 t. fine sea salt
¼ t. ground cinnamon
¼ t. fresh ground nutmeg
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. almonds, chopped fairly fine
2/3 c. canola oil
2 large farm fresh eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. almond extract
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
2 c. frozen dark sweet cherries, coarsely choppedPreheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare muffin tins by spraying with cooking spray or lining with muffin cups.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk to combine. Add the brown sugar and whisk it in as well. Add almonds and whisk again.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and buttermilk.
Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour in wet ingredients and make about 6 strokes with a spoon. Add cherries and continue to stir until JUST combined. Don’t over mix.
Fill prepared muffin tins 2/3 full. Place in oven at 400 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more.
Let them cool in the pan for five minutes. Then remove to wire racks.
Makes 24+ regular muffins.
I I got 24 plus 6 minis out of this recipe.
I will definitely add this recipe to my quick bread and muffin list of “musts make again.” Thanks, Jane. (I hope you all check out her blog.)
Enjoy with coffee or a cup of tea.
These sound delicious. I have never tried dark sweet cherries, I’ll be on the lookout for them now! The muffins looks so yummy!!
Thanks. I have found that you can decrease the sugar a bit when making a pie or tart out of these. That is a good thing!
I swear you eat better on your clean-up than most people do a regular basis. I think cherries and almonds are soul mates!
Just leaving a message to say I have awarded you a very special award which you are very deserving of 🙂
Enjoy and check it out here – http://gobakeyourself.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/a-third-liebster-a-super-chewy-super-tasty-super-sugarless-treat-2/
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
P.S I am loving this recipe 😀
Wow. I am so excited. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am posting about the award on V-day!
Those look delicious! the combination of cherries and almonds make them sound like one of those awesome muffins at a nice coffee house, only better.
My son would insist on adding dark chocolate chunks with the cherries to make it more like one of his favourite frozen yoghurts (Blackjack Cherry – cherry with dark chocolate).
I would be inclined to agree about the chocolate!
Oooh… cherry muffins happy dance over here! Do you know that cherry pie is one of my all time favourite desserts… any variation on it – including these gorgeous, moist looking muffins, get’s a high five from me! 🙂
Thanks, Kelly. Hi-five back at ya’.
Eliot those muffins sound great. I have some dark cherries from Costco. I have to try these.
Hope you do and let me know what you think!
Don’t you love accidentally finding new blogs? Google has delivered more than once for me as well. 🙂
These muffin look wonderful. I’m so excited for cherry season to return!
Yes, I was “bad mouthing” the internet a couple of posts ago, but it is always great to find great new bloggers and recipes.
The last time I bought cherries the hubby told me I was buying too many and that a lot would probably spoil. Well he definitely found out how wrong he was. They became part of my every meal! The way you described these cherries, tells me that I would be hard pressed to save them for a baked good-yum. However, your muffins do look delicious-well worth an effort to restrain myself and put some aside for the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I love that these cherries were individually frozen so I can get as many as I need for a recipe out any time. I do need to check out your site for some savory cherry dishes it sounds like.
Gosh, lucky you finding a stash of fabulous cherries in the freezer! Such great muffins you whipped up~
Thanks, Liz.
These look delicious! There’s something about the cherry/almond combination! Your clean-out has been terrific – what a creative challenge! Happy Valentines Day!
What a unique muffin recipe. I want one!
Wish I could send you a basket!
Cherry-almond anything is a winner in my book and I adore these muffins! Doncha love Google in a pinch? 🙂
I do love Google and couldn’t live without it.
You know I love muffins. Can’t wait to try these!
These are pretty tasty! Let me know what you think.