Cherry Almond Muffins

When I buy cherries it’s usually with the Grand Design to make Something Wonderful. Then, when I’m faced with the challenge of pitting a heap of cherries, I back down. I end up just eating them out of hand (nothing wrong with that), or giving in to my procrastinator self and letting them waste away undeservedly in the fruit drawer of the refrigerator (lots wrong with that.)

My Phase 1 Baby Steps solution to this problem was to make muffins. My solution to a lot of problems is to make muffins.

These Cherry Almond Muffins are a simple variation of these plum muffins. In fact, I think plums, peaches, and other stone fruits could be substituted for cherries in this recipe, or really in any similarly rustic application.

I, of course, played on the cherry’s affinity for almonds but I wanted a bit of spice, too. I couldn’t decide which warm spice (cinnamon, cloves, etc.) to add, so I sort of chose not to choose and put in some Chinese five spice. (If you read enough of Dorie Greenspan’s baking books, she’ll convince you to try it in your baking.) There’s just a smidge in there, which worked really well, lending an aura of warm spice in the background without overwhelming the cherry-almond bliss or pushing the muffins out of summer and into fall.

Overall, these were a satisfactory cherry treat. They’re delicious, gently sweet, fruity, and a little crunchy. They are breakfast, mid-morning or afternoon snack, or dessert. And, they’re plentifully fruity with just a cup of chopped cherry flesh, which means I don’t have to be so intimidated by the chore of pitting cherries.

Cherry Almond Muffins

You can swap in cinnamon, cloves, or any other warm spice for the Chinese five spice.

I used sweet Bing cherries in these muffins, but I think sour cherries would be good, too. You may want to add a little more sugar with sour cherries.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon Chinese five spice
1 large egg
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup buttermilk
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup coarsely chopped pitted fresh sweet cherries
½ cup finely chopped almonds

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray (or grease it with butter or oil.) Or you can line the muffin cups with paper liners if you prefer.

2. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and Chinese five spice. Stir together with a whisk (or you can sift if you prefer).  Set aside.

4. In another medium-size bowl beat the egg lightly with a whisk. Whisk in the melted butter. Whisk in the granulated and brown sugar, then whisk in the buttermilk and almond extract until smooth.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just a few dry spots remain. The batter will be thick. Stir in the cherries and almonds.

6. Distribute the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 375 F for 15 to 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out free of wet batter.

7. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan. If they are difficult to remove, cool a little longer. Cool completely on a wire rack, or at least until they are just a little warm.

Makes 12 muffins

Other recipes like this one: Peach Pecan Muffins with Brown Sugar Streusel Topping, Poppy Seed and Plum Muffins with Almond, Cherry Almond Loaf Cake

One year ago: Strawberry Galette with Cream Cheese

Zucchini Berry Muffins

There’s. So. Much. Zucchini.

When I plant my garden in the spring, I am driven by greed. I planted three “hills” of zucchini seeds, at least 4 seeds in each hill. Of all of those, 2 seeds germinated. I was resigned to having a small amount of zucchini. I was wrong. (I also planted yellow crooked neck squash, which is slightly less prolific.)

So, I’m doing the typical late-summer Midwestern thing of just getting that zucchini into edible things. I had some berries leftover, including some raspberries that I used in a raspberry-added version of this Lemon Layer Cake and some blueberries. I decided to make a muffin-y version of this Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread.

I made a few changes to the batter and doubled the streusel topping recipe in this blueberry coffee cake to sprinkle on top. This crumb topping is kind of an all-purpose streusel, sweet, but neutral, and it works with all kinds of muffins and coffee cakes. I made 18 muffins out of the batter, which was originally designed for 2 8-inch loaves, largely because that’s how many cups there are in my collected muffin pans.

My muffins ended up large and puffy with big, domed, crunchy tops. I felt like I was putting a lot of the crumb topping on them, but there was still some leftover, which I froze for a later use. You could make more than 18 muffins, say 22-24. They would be smaller, but still good, and would probably use up all of the streusel recipe.

Like any zucchini quick bread recipe, the shredded vegetable fills more of a moistening and texture-enhancing role than a flavor one. It also provides some pretty green confetti effects, and is a nice neutral background for the fresh berries. I used blueberries and raspberries, but chopped strawberries, blackberries, or whatever else you want to feature in your muffins would be great. You could probably also use other fruits, perhaps even dried fruits.

I hadn’t made muffins of any kind for a while, so these were a deliciously pleasant treat. The berries are the stars here, but the muffin stage is well set by the buttery, zucchini-laced batter. The crunchy crumb topping isn’t necessary, I suppose, but it adds a delightful flourish.

 

Of course, there’s still so much zucchini. Next, I intend to spiralize some and either make a salad like this one, or toss the zoodles with some version of roasted tomatoes, like this one. Okay, honestly, there’s enough zucchini to do both.

Zucchini Berry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Streusel:

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon fine salt

4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Muffins:

3 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

Zest of 1 medium lemon

3 large eggs

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup (1 stick) melted butter

2/3 cup buttermilk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

Juice of 1 medium lemon

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 ½ cups fresh berries

1. To make the streusel topping, whisk together the 2/3 cup flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cut in the cold butter pieces with a pastry blender or with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly and can be squeezed together into clumps. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. (This can be made up to a few days ahead.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously grease muffin pans or line them with cupcake liners. You will need 18-24 cups.

3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together to combine well. Add the lemon zest and whisk in or work in with your fingers to evenly distribute.

4. In a medium-size bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. Whisk together well. Continue whisking until the mixture is pale and smooth. Whisk in the melted butter. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla extract, almond extract, and lemon juice.

5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Fold together just until most of the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the zucchini. Gently fold in the berries. Try to avoid crushing the delicate ones too much.

6. Portion the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans. Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over each batter portion. If you are making 18 muffins, you may have leftover streusel. (It can be frozen for a later use.)

7. Bake the muffins at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just moist crumbs attached and no liquid batter.

8. Cool the muffins in the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack until cool enough to eat. Leftovers can be kept covered at room temperature for a few days or frozen in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag for a month or so.

Makes 18-24 muffins.

Other recipes like this one:Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread, Blueberry Banana Quick Bread, Strawberry Basil Muffins, Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

One year ago: Zucchini Cheddar Risotto

Friday Night and Stawberry Basil Muffins

 

It’s Friday night again! And what a week this has been! Plus, there were muffins with strawberries and fresh basil.

The day job…

**The less said about that the better. Too many days. Too many hours. Too many unpleasant surprises.

**But I’m on vacation for most of the upcoming week!!

 

The garden…

**There are enough cherry tomatoes to roast and make Roasted Tomato and Olive Galette. This is one if my favorite summer dishes, and I can hardly wait to make it!

**The progression of the zucchini is rapidly transcending the “gosh, that’s a lot of zucchini” stage into “OMG! What am I going to do with all this zucchini?!?” If I don’t make some zucchini bread soon, I may lose the battle.

Reading…

**You know your reading time is not what you’d like it to be when you can’t finish a stage in A Series of Unfortunate Events in a week. *Sigh*

**Maybe I’ll be able to make some progress on To Green Angel Tower during my vacation, although if I travel, I may just bring something (physically) lighter.

**I’m also having my mind blown away by China Mieville for the third time in my life. I’m deep into The Scar, which may be partially responsible for me not finishing The Miserable Mill, or even trying to get enough sleep at night. Awesome stuff!

**I’m also being gently pressured to read some comic books. Hmmm….

Recipes…

**This week I made and ate a batch of White Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs

 

**Tried and loved some delicious, delicious Zucchini Cheddar Risotto. (More on that in the next week or two.)

**Tried and did not love some zucchini breakfast cookies.

**Curled some puff pastry around homemade basil pesto, palmier style for a fabulous appetizer/snack.

**And made some Strawberry Basil Muffins….

I made these muffins based on this Peach Pecan Muffin recipe, but left off the crumb topping. I also took a strawberries-and-cream approach by making them with heavy cream instead of milk (or buttermilk, or whatever.) The batter ended up very thick, almost trying to be a cookie dough, but only almost. It’s still batter. The strawberries get a bit smashed up as they are stirred in, contributing to the moisture enough to keep things deliciously muffin-y.

I’ve come to love a subtle hint of basil in sweetened baked goods, like these cookies, and it did wonders for these little muffins. Strawberries and basil are good together anyway, and it turns out that basil and muffins are good together, too, for a double whammy.

I hope your week was good, and if you have to work this weekend, I hope your R & R is soon.

Vacation!

Strawberry Basil Muffins

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 egg

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup heavy cream, plus more if needed

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cup chopped fresh strawberries

¼ cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line it with paper liners. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together with a whisk. Set aside.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the egg and melted butter. Whisk together until very smooth and pale in color. Whisk in the sugar, continuing to beat until the mixture is smooth and thick. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.

4. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be very thick and stiff. Add some more cream if it seems like the dry ingredients will never be moistened.

5. Stir in the strawberries and basil. Again, the batter is thick. Don’t worry about smashing the strawberries into the batter. It’s okay!

6. Scoop the batter into the 12 muffin cups. Bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with no wet batter clinging to it. Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Other recipes like this one: Peach Pecan Muffins, Poppy Seed and Plum Muffins with Almond, Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins, Blueberry Coconut Muffins

One year ago: Blueberry Banana Quick Bread