Sour Cherry Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips. Tender with bursts of sour cherries and dark chocolate make this a delicious and nourishing muffin.
When my husband and I planted a cherry tree back in 1992, I had no idea that one day those cherries would make their way into a muffin recipe that I would post on the internet. But that’s what happened!
A few weeks ago, we traveled to my mother-in-law’s hobby farm to visit, and to pick pie cherries, also known as a sour cherry. While the birds already ate quite a few of them, there were still enough left for us to have fun picking them and eating them.
We made a pie, some bars, and a couple batches of these Sour Cherry Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips. And folks, these are amazing! Tender crumb, hints of sweet vanilla with bursts of sour cherries and dark chocolate make this a delicious breakfast or snack muffin.
How to Make Sour Cherry Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips:
- Start out by gathering and whisking together your dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. You could even add cinnamon for a little twist on the flavor.
- Next, mix together the eggs, oil or melted butter, Greek yogurt, and buttermilk. Add that to the dry ingredients and mix just till moistened. It’s important to not over mix your batter. Mixing helps the gluten form more, creating a chewier muffin instead of a tender crumb. In fact, it’s okay if you see streaks of flour still in the batter.
- Now you fold in the cherries and dark chocolate chips. Fold them in just till incorporated. Don’t over mix. After that, fill your muffins cups and bake in your preheated oven. There’s a bit more to the recipe, but you get the gist of it.
Nutrition notes:
I used white whole wheat flour for part of the flours in order to give the muffins a little extra fiber and to make them heartier and more filling. Ground flax seed adds heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
You can used either oil or melted butter or a combination of the two. My preference was to use all canola oil for its monounsaturated fat profile and light taste. If you choose to use butter, you’ll have a higher saturated fat content and I found the edges to be a little crispier when I used butter. But the choice is yours!
As for the cherries, they’re a relatively low-calorie food that’s rich in fiber, vitamin C, and vitamin A. And that beautiful red color you see, that comes from the anthocyanins found in cherries – nutrients that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.
So, if you happen to have a lot of sour cherries laying around, try making some wonderfully delicious muffins with them. If you don’t have any, you can usually find them in your local grocery, frozen or canned.
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Sour Cherry Muffins with Dark Chocolate Chips
Ingredients
- 1 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 c. white whole wheat flour
- 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2/3 c. sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c. canola oil or 1/4 c. oil plus 1/4 c. melted butter
- 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 c. buttermilk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 to 1.5 c. pitted sour cherries
- 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
- 1 Tbsp. turbinado sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F and spray muffin tins with non-stick pan spray.
- Whisk together the flours, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, blend together the eggs, oil (or oil and butter), Greek yogurt, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the blended liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently mix together just until moistened. There should still be streaks of flour visible.
- Fold in the cherries and chocolate chips. Do not over mix.
- Fill prepared muffin cups about 2/3 full with batter and top with a sprinkling of turbinado sugar if desired.
- Bake at 375° F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from muffin tins and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm.
Excellent muffins melt in your mouth!
Thank you so much, Wanda! Glad you enjoyed them!
These are the most delicious muffins! I’m so happy to be able to use my sour cherries in a muffins instead of always making jam. The flavour of the sour cherries and dark chocolate chips is Devine!
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!