Sour cherries and chocolate are an amazing combination. And muffins are a great freezer-friendly breakfast or snack. So when I bought an extra bag of dried sour cherries, I just knew I had combine them with chocolate. And I did! These muffins are great, and I made them a little healthier by using whole wheat pastry flour and cottage cheese in the batter, instead of all white flour and sour cream.
The tartness of the cherries combined with the sweet chocolate and batter is perfect. You may think you want to cut down on the sugar in the recipe, and I was thinking about it, too, but the cherries are super sour, so I was pretty sure we needed the sweetness to counteract the tart cherries. Maybe I’ll try to make these even healthier with raw sugar, agave, or even honey next time.
I actually adapted the recipe from Ina Garten, who made these blueberry muffins. Why’d I use this recipe? Because there was no buttermilk in it. And I don’t like to mess with buttermilk substitutions. It also creamed butter and sugar, which I prefer over using melted butter in muffins and other baked goods.
These were so good, I saw Zeke stealing bites from the cooling rack…and he has no idea they have whole wheat flour in them!
I made 17 muffins.
Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins, adapted from Ina Garten:
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese (low fat, fat free, full fat – whichever you like best)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips (I like semi-sweet)
- 1 cup dried sour cherries
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 16 muffin tins with liners.
2. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, until light in color, about 5 minutes.
3. With mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time.
4. Add vanilla, sour cream, cottage cheese, and milk and mix well.
5. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
6. Slowly add to mixer while on low speed.
7. Turn off mixer and scrape sides with spatula, making sure all ingredients are combined.
8. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.
9. Spoon into muffin tins, just to the top.
10. Bake for about 30 minutes, until lightly browned and when tested, a toothpick comes out clean.
