I've been working on teaching Alexis the art of pretending to have a clue when it comes to throwing random ingredients together. I never know if a new thing is going to work out, but there's no point in being afraid of trying, y'know? Her most recent "what if?" idea was to throw cherries, chocolate, and cream cheese into a muffin.
She has good ideas, you guys.
Mission successful. In the quest to nail down this recipe, we learned all about cutting and pitting cherries. Which, BONUS. Alexis can now be in charge of that game.
Chocolate Cherry Muffins
1 cup quick oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup cherries, pitted and quartered
1 cup chocolate chips
4 oz cream cheese
4 tablespoons granulated sugar (yes, again)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (yes, again)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake liners in a muffin pan. You're making 12 muffins.
2. Toss the oats and buttermilk in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. You want to give the oats a minute or two to soak in the buttermilk.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in the sugar and whisk again.
4. Dump the dry ingredients into the bowl with the oatmeal and buttermilk. Stir with a fork to mix then add the egg, melted butter, and 1 teaspoon almond extract. Mix it up some more. Fold in the chocolate chips and cherries.
5. Now for the cream cheese! In that dirty bowl you aren't using, combine the other almond extract, cream cheese, and other sugar and mix with an electric mixer until smooth.
6. Fill each cupcake liner about half full of the chocolate goop. Top that with a spoonful of cream cheese goop and then cover with a bit more chocolate goop. These muffins won't rise very much, so go ahead and fill those liners nearly to the top.
7. Bake for 27-30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Try one warm. Then try one at room temperature. Then try one again a few hours later. After you've tried three and made sure the quality is accessible, you may share.