Cherry Orange Muffins

Cherry Orange Muffins

Cherry season has a special place in my heart. I remember going cherry picking with my brother when we were kids. I don't remember picking any cherries (I think the grown ups were on the ladders) but I remember eating mounds of them. They are also one of the first summer fruits to arrive at my farmer's market...thereby signaling the start of my favorite stone fruit season.

I don't bake with cherries much...I'm too busy eating them raw! :) I prefer the hard, dark cherries over the rainier cherries. Sorry if I have some typos in the post...I'm busy eating cherries while typing!

I adapted a blueberry muffin with streusel. I think if you scatter some streusel on top of a shoe, it would be tasty. Forget pixie dust, Tinkerbell should sprinkle streusel on everything. That'll bring world peace - for sures.

One cup of pitted and quartered cherries along with the zest of one Golden Nuggest mandarin tangerine.

Bring these into a meeting and you won't have to take minutes. Guaranteed.

Here's a photo of Cidney the Girl Dog. She had absolutely nothing to do with the making of these cupcakes. I keep trying to teach her how to do the dishes, vacuum and laundry, but she mumbles something about "my lack of thumbs." Whatever. Anyway, she's in this blog post because she's cute. And that's always a good thing to read about, no?

Stop yourself from eating a cup of cherries and make these muffins!

Recipe:
Printable recipe here

Cherry Orange Muffins

Adapted from "Blueberry Muffins" from the beautiful Sarabeth's Bakery book

Streusel (page 62 of her lovely book)
6 T all-purpose flour
1 T superfine sugar
1 T light brown sugar
1/8 t ground cinnamon
2 1/2 T unsalted butter, melted
1/4 t vanilla extract

Mix together in a small bowl until crumbly. Set aside until ready to use.

Adapted from the Blueberry Crumb Muffins - makes 12 cherry muffins

1 large orange (I used a golden nugget mandarin)
2/3 cup corn oil (I used a light olive oil)
1/2 cup plus 1 T whole milk
2 large eggs, room tep
2 1/4 c bread flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 T baking powder
1/4 t fine sea salt (I used kosher salt)
1 cup cherries, pitted and quartered (the blueberry recipes calls for 1 C fresh or frozen blueberries)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. I used paper liners in 12 muffin cups
2. Zest the orange. Set aside zest.
3. Juice the orange to get 1/3 cup juice.
4. Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt).
5. Whisk together the wet ingredients in a medium bowl (oil, milk, OJ, zest, eggs).
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Don't overmix.
7. Fold in cherries.
8. Scoop into muffin cups. Sprinkle with streusel.
9. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce temp to 375 and bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean - 15 more minutes or so.
10. Cool in pan for a few minutes then remove to cool completely. Enjoy!

Sarabeth says you can also use raspberries (fresh or frozen) in this recipe. So adaptable! You should put her lovely cookbook on your wish list!