Rollout Muffins - Dried Cherry

Hey All,

Today was rollout day.  In my new gig, rollouts are that exciting and nerve wracking time when new code goes into the production environments.  We also have to be at the office and going by 6am, so it makes for an early day in order to minimize the impact on our users.

Because it can be such a drag getting up that early, I always like to do something nice for those days.  During my first rollout, I decided that it would be muffins to get us going in the morning.  To date we've had pineapple, cranberry orange, and blueberry.  This change order found me making Cherry Almond, as inspired by A Taste of Home.

It also gave me a good excuse to put my stand mixer to use.

These are super delicious, the dried cherries don't impart a lot of flavor, but add morsels of real cherry when you bite into one.  The cake is otherwise very nutty/almondy on account of the sparing use of almond extract.  They taste like nuts, not artificial cherry.  It makes for a wonderful flavor profile.

So here's how I did it:

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon shortening
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk plus 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar, mix and let set until milk curdles, mix again before adding)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/2 cup whole almonds run through the food processor, divided

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Line 12 muffin tin cups with liners or coat well with oil or shortening.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In the mixer bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg.

Add about half the flour mixture and half the buttermilk and mix well.  Add the remaining half and mix until a muffin batter form.

Fold in the cherries and half of the almonds.

Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

Bake at 350F 20-25 minutes (mine took 20) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool.

I hope you'll enjoy these to make a day brighter!

3Day