Bittersweet Chocolate Cherry Muffins

These muffins were inspired by guilt — and 13 inches of snow. As I watched by husband out snow blowing for the second time in 24 hours despite having a pretty awful cold, it occurred to me that the least I could do was bake something warm for him. I looked at recipes for cake or quick bread, but the baking times were too long. So I settled on muffins. I wanted to make my favorite Moosewood Muffins, but our supplies were pretty low and I didn’t have anything decent to mix into them – other than frozen zucchini or frozen tart cherries.

And that’s when inspiration struck – in the form of bittersweet chocolate.

I remembered the Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding I recently made with chocolate bread from a recipe found in “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.” And I thought about the Chocolate-Zucchini Cakes that I made last Saturday with an Everyday Food recipe. And with my Moosewood Muffin recipe in hand, these Bittersweet Chocolate Cherry Muffins were born. They’re not too sweet (which is a good thing at breakfast), and they’re great for alleviating guilt about frozen husbands.

Bittersweet Chocolate Cherry Muffins (aka Snowstorm Muffins)
Makes 12 muffins

6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup, plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups pitted tart cherries*
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cups in a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, and then the milk and vanilla. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.

In a large bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add the wet ingredients and fold together until just combined – don’t overmix. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups.

Bake for about 30 minutes, rotating the pan after about 20 minutes. (When a toothpick comes out clean, they’re done.)

*If you substitute sweet cherries for the tart ones, cut the sugar to 1/2 cup.