- HubPages»
- Food and Cooking
Cherry Muffins Recipe
Cherry Picking in Brentwood Leads to Cherry Muffins!
Cherries have always been one of my favorite fruits to eat, and as an addict of all things fresh that come straight off a tree, I have wonderful memories of a maze full of cherry trees. I am lucky to live less than 2 hours away from Brentwood, Ca where the majority of farms are lined up with hundreds of cherry trees.
Memorial Day marks the beginning of cherry season, as the owners open up their farms and invite you to pick your own cherries. The cherries are finally ripe, the birds are singin' and sun is shinin,' welcoming excited local fruit lovers.
My favorite recipe to bake with cherries is muffins. The sweetness and subtle tartness of the cherries pop in your mouth with a lot of flavor. I appreciate how the cherries, unlike strawberries and blueberries, do not disintegrate in the batter. As you can tell from the picture, they retained their shape quite nicely.
This cherry almond recipe is very easy to make. The combination of toasted almonds and cherries is a dream come true. I hope you enjoy the recipe and if you're ever in California, stop by Brentwood for cherry picking!
Cherry Farm, Brentwood, CA
Click thumbnail to view full-size
Brentwood Cherry Picking- Best Cherry Farm
Maggiore Cherry Ranch - (925) 634-4176
Nunn Better Farms - 
DC's Extraordinary Cherries - (925) 516-4495
Ron Nunn Farms - 
Enos Family Farms - (925) 437-9973 http://www.enosfamilyfarms.com
Bacchini's Fruit Tree - (925) 634-3645 http://www.brentwoodfruit.com
Cherry Picking in Brentwood
Brentwood, CA offers over 40 farms with about 640 acres of cherries and other fruits for you to pick. There are different variety of cherries available. Bing cherries, rainier cherries, and brooks cherries are among the local favorites.
Cherry picking can be a fun family event, especially for the kids. You can pack a small lunch and have a picnic, or have brunch at some of the breakfast places in the nearby city. As for me, I eat the cherries right off the tree until my stomach bloats up and I have to rush to the one and only portal potty available. I can't help it. There's something awesome about eating fruits that are picked right off the trees. It can't get any more fresh than that.
We usually get there as early as possible, while the air is cooler and there are less people to fight over the ladder. I prefer to climb the trees rather than using the ladders. It brings back childhood memories of warm summer days filled with tree-climbing and bike-riding until the sun came down.
After a few hours of picking cherries, it's time to weigh in the white bucket is full. I usually bring home about 20lbs of fresh, organic cherries.
Do you think I can eat 20lbs of cherries by myself? Of course! Just not all at once! Although the cherries are best when eaten raw, you can bet that they will find its way into different types of desserts. There are so many different ways to cook and bake with the cherries. Let's see...
- I freeze them. Frozen cherries can be added to smoothies or milkshakes!
- I bake with them. Cherry muffins, cherry chocolate cake, cherry energy bars...and so on.
- I make cherry jam.
- I pig out with a bowl of cherries every night in front of the tv.
- I dream about cherries the same night.
Cook Time
- Prep time: 15 min
- Cook time: 25 min
- Ready in: 40 min
- Yields: 12 Cherry Almond Muffins
Ingredients for Cherry Muffins with Almonds
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar, (I used Stevia, it's healthier)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 teaspoon almond extract
- 1.5 cups fresh cherries, pitted and chopped
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Instructions for Cherry Muffins with Almonds
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.
- Add eggs and beat until they're light and fluffy.
- In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the egg/butter mixture. Mix together.
- Add the milk, sour cream, vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix well.
- Turn off mixer and use a spatula to fold in cherries. Scoop the mixture evenly into each muffin pan. *Use a muffin liner if you don't have a non-stick pan.
- Sprinkle sugar and almond slices over on top of the muffin batter.
- Bake for 25 minutes @375, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes before you eat them. Enjoy!
Related
Comments for Cherry Muffins
This looks amazing. I've always love fresh cherries and using these in a muffin--couldn't get any better. Love the background story as well. Rated up.
Excellent,! I like the pics and the map is great too. Another awesome job!
Oh my! This gets my personel HOTD. I can see you up the tree! Fantastic idea to combine the two aspects of this. Food tastes so much better when you know where it's from. I love that final picture of the muffin.
I have a cherry tree in the garden. It's next door actually but we get all the cherries! So I can't climb it but then you can't have everything!
Oh, YUMMY! Two flavors I love, and so tempting. Are you getting royalties from the big-name diet plans for doing this to us??? Be still my soul . . .
- Author
Haha Marcy! I like this side of you. ;-)
I love how you discussed both the fun of picking cherries and a favorite recipe. ALL of your pictures are so enticing, both of muffins and the cherry trees.
Yum!!! Wow you always take such great pictures. I wish I lived in California so I could take my kids cherry picking! I will look for some at Whole Foods and make this for my kids! Take care, Kelley
I am definitely going to make these and take a batch of them to work. They look so delicious. I can't wait to try them! Shared this one also.
- Author
Hi anglnw and Nare - thanks for the kind comment!
Hi Horatio- I'm jealous that your neighbor has a cherry tree! I was considering planting a dwarf cherry tree. Thank you for your sweet comments.
Thank Amy and Kelley! Whole Foods has amazing organic cherries!
Hi Catleena- Thank you for stopping by. I'm sure your co-workers will love these muffins. That is, if you are planning to share lol!
Hmmm. All I can say is, Delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe! The picture looks enticing. I think I should try making one.
- Author
Sammi- you're welcome! Hope you like them!
sounds delicious!
i love cherries! and your muffins looks extremely yummy!
- Author
Thank you, cherries are delishhh!
How much sugar is mixed with the butter in the first step? I think you forgot an ingredient.
- Author
Kat/Jen- the sugar is listed at the bottom. Sorry, I should have listed the ingredients in the order of the instructions. Enjoy!
Just wondering if frozen cherries could be used when fresh ones arent available to those of us who live in the northeast?
- Author
Hi Shirley, I suppose frozen cherries would work but I would suggest soaking them in slightly warm water for a bit before using them. :-)
I knew I had to check this out as soon as I saw your photos! I'm also a cherry addict and can never get enough of them. These muffins sound wonderful and how nice that fresh cherries don't disintegrate like berries. I hope to find some cherries so I can try this! Voted up and shared.
- Author
Thanks Vespa, for sharing (and pinning - just saw that). I can't wait until summer for cherry season! Hope you like it! :-) Take care
Boy, those cherry muffins look marvelous. My dad had a cherry tree when I was growing up. we made cherry preserves and cherry ice cream. Cherries are very good for you, too. They are choke full of antioxidants.
- Author
Hi Rebecca! Oh I am jealous of your Dad's cherry tree! I am thinking about growing a few in my new back yard...but it's probably going to take forever to produce some fruit! And I agree- they are loaded with antioxidants! Thank you so much for sharing and commenting. Take care!
22