Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins
Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins are a nice treat for Valentine’s Day. Adding a little red to life creates a lot of love. Growing up we ate a lot of fresh fruit. Cherry time was special at our house. My nonna preserved the cherries in a liqueur and those cherries we used in baking, on top of ice cream, and they were a real treat. Used as a filing or a topping, they are delicious.
Today, I buy frozen cherries during the off-season and I find them handy and delicious. I like the President’s choice brand. I use them frozen to make smoothies, I defrost them and eat them because they are full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. For a good article on the healthy benefits of cherries go to https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7833614/health-benefits-of-cherries/
Another great Valentine cupcake see my https://recipesatmytable.com/almond-carrot-cupcakes/
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tbsp amaretto liqueur
- 1 cup frozen or fresh cherries
- 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
Process
Defrost your frozen cherries in a strainer with a coffee filter. Reserve the juice for the glaze. I took the cherries out an hour before.
Combine the flour, sugars, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, milk, yogurt, and oil and amaretto liqueur.Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until moistened.
Now fold in the chopped nuts and chocolate chips.
Finally chop the cherries and gently fold into the batter.
Spoon into a muffin pan with liners. Place into a F 375 oven for 20 minutes.
Combine half a cup of powdered sugar with about 1 tbsp of the cherry juice. Drizzle over the muffins.
For extra pizzazz and to dress it up and bring to the table, I added some whipped cream.
Published by