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Gluten Free Cherry Muffins With Vanilla And Almond

By Lisa Kelso


I have a good friend who adores dessert. Dessert makes her inordinately happy. All dessert. Well almost all - cake type things that are a little dry, or even thinking about being dry, just don't cut it.

So, when I decided to use up our frozen cherries and make cherry muffins for dessert one night, the disappointment was very evident on her face (despite her best efforts to hide it). I was so worried that just to be safe, I made her a giant bowl of whipped cream to put on the muffins in case they were dry.

After her first bite of muffin, she lit up and said I should make sure and tell you something. Rather than paraphrase, I'll let her tell you. Her exact words were, "you know how with most muffins, only the top is really good and the rest is just kind of dry and boring? Well these muffins are delicious all the way through!"

For this recipe I used completely frozen cherries. Rather than thawing it first, I've found that using frozen fruit while it is still frozen makes the best baked goods. For whatever reason, frozen fruit comes out perfectly and thawed fruit creates a watery mess that turns the dough some very strange colors. Of course, fresh fruit is preferable, however that limits you to certain times of year. Given that we are in the middle of winter, fresh cherries are out of the question. If you are lucky enough to have access to a Costco, it is a veritable treasure trove of frozen berries, most of them organic.

This is a very easy, 1 bowl recipe. These muffins freeze perfectly. Let them cool, put them in a big Ziploc bag or cookie tin and freeze them. To defrost, just take out a few muffins, and heat on 350 until warmed through. They sometimes get a little crisp on top as they're reheated, and that tastes especially good. Like my friend pointed out, you don't have to worry about them getting dry!




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