Fresh baked Cherry Muffins loaded with chunks of bittersweet chocolate. This is how I wish everyday would begin!
Give me anything baked for breakfast and I'm sold! Plain old cherry muffins would do fine. But when you find a few bars of dark chocolate in the pantry, then your mind starts to go a little crazy.
I can't take full credit for these cherry muffins though, like all good baked goods they have to start off with a solid base. I usually always use this recipe from The New York Times when I get the urge to make muffins from scratch.
They turn out just how I like them, so naturally I tried to figure out how to change them but still keep that muffin trust. Cherries are everywhere right now, whenever I walk in my grocery store I'm met with an avalanche of them all tightly packaged in those perfect to-go bags that drive me crazy.
Yup, I'm that person that won't just pick up a bag and be done. I usually take some out and add them to another bag, I want to be in control of my cherries, but I think they're trying to get me to buy more.
Anytime I bake with fresh fruit I try to soften it first instead of adding it to the recipe raw. I feel you can end up with more flavor, add a spoonful of jelly or a splash of red wine and simmer in a pan for five minutes.
I added some brown sugar to my cherries until they started to pop, they don't get mushy but the sugar creates a sort of glaze and the cherries fold through the batter just right.
Obviously these muffins are best served warm from the oven, but if you still have some left you can ding them in the microwave for five seconds, just to loosen up the chocolate. I'd be surprised if you had any extras though!
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