"Everything-free" Cherry & Almond Muffins

My husband said that these are his favorite of my bakes, so far. I am happy with how they've been turning out, too, so I thought it was time to share the recipe with you. :)

I use sweet cherries, as I am not a fan of sour. The first time I made these, I used sweet Bing cherries. I pitted and chopped them, then spread them out on a baking sheet and froze them. That way, when I mixed them into the muffin batter, the cherry juice did not immediately turn the batter purple. It worked well, but it was time-consuming and the muffins took much longer to bake. I've made them again since then, using Bing cherries, but skipping the freezer and just putting the chopped cherries straight into the batter. This also worked well. They still looked fine and tasted good.

This time around, I used Rainier cherries. It feels extravagant to me to use these in baking, but there is a reason. :) I usually only buy Rainier cherries once or twice a year. They are only available for a short time during the summer, and they are far more expensive than our standard sweet Bing cherries. Rainier cherries are just delicious, so I look forward to their advent every summer.

When I saw them in our local grocery store for only 3.99 a pound, instead of eight or nine dollars a pound, I was happily surprised. I bought some, of course, and was excited to have them for a snack. I washed a small bowlful and sat down to savor this perfect summer treat. Imagine my disappointment when I bit into the first one and found it to be flavorless and sour! I ate them anyway, as I was very hungry and they were food, even if they did not taste good. What a let-down!

I don't like to waste food, but I did not want to eat any more of those Sour Cherries of Disappointment, so I decided to put them in muffins.

I made two batches of muffins this morning, as our daughter Heather and I are taking a little road trip. (We're going over to Idaho, to visit my husband's mom.) Given my food limitations (and hers) we travel with our own food for most meals.

Usually, I simply pit the cherries, chop them up, and stir them into the batter. Given how sour these are, I macerated them first- chopped them, added sugar, and let them sit. This draws out the juices, and will hopefully temper their sourness in the muffins.

I have a handy little gadget for pitting cherries. Recently, I have used it for removing the pits from Castelveltrano olives. It worked well for that, but it seems to have messed up the alignment of the pitting gadget. It still works pretty well, and makes it much faster to remove the pits (stones) from fresh cherries.

"Everything-free" Cherry & Almond Muffins
Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, nightshade-free
Makes 12 regular-sized muffins
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit ~ 18-22 minutes

Dry ingredients:
1 cup millet flour
1 cup tapioca starch
1 Tablespoon flax meal
     see my post on May 4, 2018-Replacing Eggs: Flax Gel and Flaxmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup light agave nectar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
         I use organic granulated sugar- it has more the taste and texture of raw sugar, which I like.
1/3 cup oil (I currently use a light avocado oil, or grapeseed oil)
2 teaspoons melted coconut oil
         see my post on March 3, 2018-  Replacing Eggs In Baking
2 teaspoons almond extract
         I can't tolerate almonds themselves, but so far, the extract does not seem to bother me.

Add-in:
1 cup sweet cherries, washed, stems removed, pitted and chopped
(as mine were sour, after chopping I added 1/4 cup sugar and let them sit while I mixed up the batter)
 *1/4 cup was a little much. If doing this again, I'd only use 2 Tablespoons sugar.

~ a little more granulated sugar to sprinkle on top of the muffins

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups.
(I prefer the If You Care brand of unbleached baking cups. They're supposed to be a more healthy option, but my favorite thing about them is that they peel off of the muffins easily.)

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine. When the wet and dry are about halfway mixed, add the cherries. Fold the cherries in until the batter is just mixed.

Spoon or scoop the batter into the prepared tin. I like to use a cookie/ice-cream scoop. The one I use holds about two tablespoons of batter. Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of granulated sugar. This helps avoid the sticky tops that gluten-free muffins can have, after they are baked.

Bake for 18 minutes, then check by gently pressing on the top of a muffin. If it squishes, they need more time. If it gives a little, but does not stay dented, they should be done.

Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool. Remember that fruit like cherries or blueberries holds heat for a long time, so do let them cool a few minutes before eating. I have burned my mouth from being too impatient for fruit muffins. :)

Enjoy!

If you make these, I'd love to hear how they turn out for you.

P.S. One of my pet peeves is having to scroll past forty thousand photos of the same thing, to get to the actual recipe on a blog.  Because of this, I usually only include one photo of my finished product. Today, though, I felt like doing more, as the cherries were so pretty, and I wanted to show the process and tools that I use. I hope you enjoyed baking with me. :)