‘When your Kindergarten school give you cherries, you should make cherry muffins.’ – said Noone. Ever.
Recently The Canadian One had a parent-teacher’s meeting at his school at which he was given roughly $50 worth of fruit as a gift. Now, to YOU that may seem like a lot of fruit but here in Korea, it means 6 clementines, a small box of cherries, some green grapes and a small bottle of orange juice. Fruit is expensive here. Majorly expensive and whenever free fruit is going, we’re all over it like fruit flies.
Last week, The Canadian One sends me a text which read ‘You should see the fruit I scored‘ and immediately I began to get excited about a) what fruit it could be and b) what I could bake with that fruit.
Apple pie? Blueberry muffins? Oh-So-Simple banana bread?
In the end, I decided to try my hand at cherry muffins and once they were cooked, I promptly ate three of them and lay around feeling ill from the muffin overload. My advice: DO make these muffins. DON’T eat three at one time…no matter how badly you want to. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Cherry Muffins with Coconut Topping
1/2 salt
1 tbls baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar / Splenda
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Pinch of cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped cherries
2 tbsl desiccated coconut
1. Pre-heat oven to 375F / 190C.
2. Mix together salt, flour, sugar/Splenda, vanilla essence and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and melted butter.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine.
5. Fold in chopped cherries.
6. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full (if you want, sprinkle with coconut – I did half with coconut and half without) and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes (check after 20 minutes).
***I became concerned when the muffins remained only slightly browned and mostly white when they came out of the oven. My mother happened to call while I was checking on them. After a minor conversation about how the muffins were white and how milk is white and it all makes sense….I accepted the muffins were safe to eat…and then I promptly waited 20 minutes for them to cool and then ate one…and then another…and then a third.***
For more Cookin’ in Korea, check out:
The Ketchup War 