Kick off cherry season with these double chocolate cherry muffins. These butter-less beauties are loaded with Greek yogurt, fresh cherries and chocolate chips. It’s like eating cupcakes for breakfast!
I have a secret baking weapon. It’s not a particular cookbook or website. It’s a person…
Figure it out yet? Yes, my friends, that secret weapon is my 5 year old. She is the one that comes up with the creative ideas at my house and makes requests. We found some beautiful Rainier cherries at the grocery store the other week and the three of us ate them like they were going out of style. After we ate our weight in cherries, Addie exclaimed, “Mommy! You need to make cherry muffins.” As I’ve said before, now why didn’t I think of that? Forget Pinterest – I have my own inspiration here at home.
The muffins were springy and chewy – just the way I like them. I’m not a fan of muffins or baked goods that get all crumbly and fall apart easily. These had the perfect balance with tart cherry bits and melted chocolate chips. They actually reminded me of a tasty cherry chocolate cake, except in muffin form.
My secret baking weapon was a bit undecided about these muffins at first but then realized that it tasted like cake. Once she saw how many chocolate chips were in there, she was sold. My husband and I also really liked these muffins, and it was a great way to pack even more cherries into our diets.
I’m excited to see what baked good my Addie comes up with next!
Double chocolate cherry muffins
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour can substitute half of this for whole wheat flour if desired
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups fresh cherries pitted and chopped (can substitute frozen cherries - chop them without thawing)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Generously grease 2 standard muffin pans and set aside (I used silicone muffin pans and did not grease them).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the Greek yogurt, milk, applesauce, eggs and almond extract. Pour this into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Gently fold the mixture until a few dry streaks remain. Add the chopped cherries and chocolate chips and fold until everything just comes together. Do not over mix.
- Transfer the batter into your prepared muffin pans, filling each well about 3/4 full.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (melted chocolate chips are OK). Allow the muffins to cool before serving.