cherry chocolate chunk muffins

Let's talk cherries. I used to hate the dang things. Not because I actually disliked cherries, per se, but because I loathe artificially-flavored cherry stuff. Cherry popsicles, cherry Ring Pops, cherry Dimetapp. Don't even get me started. I'd like to meet the man who invented fake cherry flavoring...because clearly the man has never tasted an actual cherry. Cherry flavoring tastes less like cherry and more like what I imagine the color red would taste like. You know, if colors had flavors...that tasted like sticky, sweet vomit.

That was an image, huh?

So anyway, after a childhood of cherry avoidance, I've spent the last several years making up for lost time. However, my newfound relationship with cherries has not been without it's struggles. No sir. Me and cherries hit a pretty big stumbling block last summer. Let me break it down for you. It's an age old story. Girl wants to make cherry cobbler. Girl accidentally spends $15 on a bag of cherries because her mission for cherry cobbler happens to take place NOT during peak cherry season and she thought the sign said $6.99/bag, not $6.99/lb. Girl searches high and low for a cherry pitter only to be met with failure. Girl's mom finally pits said cherries by hand before they go bad. Girl makes cobbler and it's nothing special. The End.

Needless to say, I've been a bit gun shy to attempt to bake with cherries ever since the Cobbler Incident of 2011. However, when you see big bags o' cherries for $1.99/lb, it's time to hop back on the cherry bandwagon. So here I am, bearing muffins. And these muffins actually are something special. They're like a chocolate-covered cherry meets a baked good. And how could that ever be a bad thing? No hurry and make these before cherries become ungodly expensive again!

Cherry Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cubed and softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
1 cup chopped pitted cherries (about 1/2 lb)
1 cup chocolate chunks/chips (about 6 oz by weight)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray or line with paper liners.

Mix 2 2/3 cups flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition followed by the vanilla extract. Beat in half of dry ingredients, followed by a third of the yogurt. Add remaining dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the yogurt, until incorporated.

Toss cherries and chopped chocolate with the remaining 1 Tbsp flour and add to the mixer, mixing for just a few more seconds to distribute evenly (the batter will be very, very thick).

Divide the batter evenly among cups, using a large cookie scoop. Bake for 8 minutes and then decrease oven temperature to 375 and bake for ~8-10 more minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached.

Let cool 5 minutes in the pan before removing and cooling completely. Will keep ~3 days at room temperature, can be frozen in zip-top freezer bags.

Yields: ~18 muffins
Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride