Cherries are a wonderful taste of summer. I spent quite a few years living in the Niagara region, and cherry season was always the time to run to the Harvest Barn or another local food market and pick up cherries (and cherry pies). Who hasn’t spent some time in their youth eating cherries and seeing how far one can spit the pits?
Whether they are sweet or sour, cherries are not native to North America. French and English settlers brought cherries in the 1600s to Canada and the United States, where they seem to thrive around the Great Lakes.
Sour cherries are really a thing of beauty. Their time is so quick and fleeting. The demand for sour cherries in Toronto is far greater than the fresh Ontario supply. I received an email from a TravelFoodCool reader, Dave (THANK YOU), telling me about his absolute favourite (and famous) Sour Cherry Muffin recipe and telling me I had to make it.
This recipe is quick and easy to make. Make them on a Sunday so you have breakfast ready for your Monday morning and upcoming week. I also think the recipe will make a great cake, and next will try it in a round baking pan.
The weekend I wanted to make these muffins found me in Calgary, helping Pete with the Alberta Ride to Conquer Cancer. Since I knew that cherry season was short, I wanted to make this recipe while it was still possible for others to get fresh cherries.
Back in Toronto, I phoned and apologized to Dave. I couldn’t get sour cherries in Calgary so I had to settle for sweet BC cherries (also very good). Dave managed to get some sour cherries, so he whipped up a batch of muffins and sent me his photos (mostly to make me jealous, I think). Thanks Dave for the recipe and for the photos; they look fabulous!
Prep time: 15 minutes; Bake time: 20 minutes; Serves: 12
What you need:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup light sour cream
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups pitted sour cherries (or pitted sweet cherries, halved)
What you do:
- Preheat your oven to 400º F
- In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, salt)
- In a smaller bowl, add wet ingredients (sour cream, butter, eggs, vanilla)
- Whisk the dry ingredients together
- Whisk the wet ingredients together
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients
- Sprinkle cherries over the top
- (note, at this point I decided to cut the sweet cherries in half and probably could have quartered them)
- Gently stir (I used a big spatula) until dry ingredients are moistened
- Spoon into paper muffin cups
- (at the last minute I added some chocolate chips to one of the muffins for fun) – Dave added slivered almonds to his
- Bake in centre of oven at 400º F for 20 minutes or until golden and tops are firm to the touch
- Place on a wire rack to cool
- Enjoy!
