cherry muffins

When I baked these cherry muffins, I was so thrilled at the "Christmasey" look of the muffins. This was due to the addition of red cherries and green cherries.

Hmm.... next in line to try my hand at baking would be a Christmas stollen, I guess!

Whenever I buy a packet of cherries for use in baking, I would use my spare time to cut the cherries into small pieces and store the cherries in the refrigerator. This way, when I need to use the cherries, I do not have to spend time cutting the cherries and I can cut down on my preparation time.

INGREDIENTS

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

75g castor sugar

1 egg

30g butter (melted)

200ml low fat milk

1 tsp orange essence

1/2 cup red cherries (chopped)

1/2 cup green cherries (chopped)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Line the muffin cups with paper muffin cases. Set aside.

3. Sift the plain flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the castor sugar and mix well.

4. Whisk the egg using a hand whisk and then add the melted butter, milk and orange essence. Mix well.

5. Mix the cherries into the wet ingredients.

6. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir using a wooden spatula until just combined. Do not over-stir.

7. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.