Pretty Please with Three Cherries on the Side...

Cherries was at the market the other day and I just couldn't help myself from buying them although they were a teeny tiny bit expensive. Heck, I'm studying for my exam and I need to treat myself nicely from time to time - let myself indulge, if you know what I mean!

And it has been a while since I'd made anything out of Baking by Flavor, hasn't it? Unfortunately, no recipes in that one that included fresh cherries, but - there is this killer recipe for blueberry muffins that I tried once. Loads of spices in it, which accented the blueberries so well, but I didn't think they would be quite the match for cherries...

So - found some leftover marzipan from Christmas in the back of the cupboard (there are so many goodies in there, it keeps surprising me!) - and did buy a huge amount of milk chocolate a while ago. It is getting warmer around here, and we all know what happens when chocolate is in a hot environment - it melts! Man, I had to do something and I had to do it fast, or I'd end up with a big pile of melted chocolate! Oh the HORROR!

I took the recipe for the blueberry muffins, but only used the basic recipe, and halved it, 'cause I did want to eat some of the cherries just as they were. Added the grated marzipan, a handful or two of milk chocolate "drops" - and there you have it!

Cherry, Marzipan & Milk Chocolate Muffins - adapted from Baking by Flavor

Makes 6 jumbo muffins

6 jumbo muffin cups, buttered and floured.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

1½ cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon
2 pinches of salt
½ cup of sugar

Sift the dry ingredients together

3 tablespoons milk
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup thick sour cream
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Whisk the wet ingredients together

about 100 g. of marzipan (I don't know how much, it was just what was left!)
1 cup cherries, stoned (I have this neat cherry pitter - I'll introduce you sometime soon!)
A good handful of chopped milk chocolate - or two, heh!

Grate the marzipan into the dry ingredients, and give it a good stir.
Toss the cherries with a teaspoon of the flour-mixture.

Add the wet ingredients to the drstirringing them together. Add the cherries and chocolate, and divide between the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with granulated sugar, or maybe some chopped almonds. In fact, if you don't have marzipan, you could substitute some of the flour for ground almonds. Or you could add chopped almonds to the mix, instead of the chocolate. Or you could have both chocolate AND almonds. I think almonds would go well with cherries...

Now where was I? Oh yeah - bake in a 375 F hot oven, for about 25 minutes. Leave to cool a bit in the cups, then turn out and eat. Preferably in the sun. Oh, and with no textbooks in site. Or on top of the textbooks, making sure to drop some greasy crumbs on the pages...