Valentine's Day Cherry-Poppy Seed Muffins

Even though baking isn't usually my thing, there are times when I break away from my normal comfort zone and do some baking.  This time when I broke out the flour and measuring cups it was to surprise Andy with some Cherry-Poppy Seed Muffins for breakfast.  I don't bake very often so around here it is a good way to make something, even as simple as these muffins, seem more special.

The recipe was so quick and easy that I wanted to share it with you guys in time for you to try it and surprise the "someone special" in your lives for Valentine's Day.  I got the recipe out of one of my Tyler Florence cookbooks called real kitchen.   I was looking for some fun Superbowl recipes to try out this year when I came across this one.  A quick scan of the short list of ingredients told me that I was in luck and had everything I needed - - complete with some cute heart cupcake liners to make them even cuter!  :)

Getting all the ingredients ready!

The great thing about this recipe is that it just has one bowl of dry ingredients and one bowl of wet, and then you mix them to combine.  For someone like me who doesn't love to bake, I enjoy recipes like this that keep things simple.  If I don't have to break out my mixer or beaters all the better!

Batter mixture before
I added the cherries

So first, I tackled the dry ingredients and measured out the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mixed them to combine.  Then, in a separate bowl, I beat together the eggs and milk, zest of one medium size orange and the poppy seeds.  The zest is the very outer peel of the orange (minus any of the white pith which can be bitter) grated finely.  All the essential oils are in the zest and it adds a real kick and amazing aroma to the muffins.  You can find a zester (or microplane) at just about any cooking store.  That tool will double as a way to grate your nutmeg, garlic and a myriad of other ingredients so its a good tool to have in your kitchen.

This recipe also calls for melted butter to be added to the wet ingredients - - and since I read the recipe all the way through first, I had that on my stovetop melted and waiting for me.  You don't want to add that while it is too hot or you will scramble your egg mixture!

Lightly flour the dried cherries to keep
them from sinking in the batter.

To bring the two sets of ingredients together, I followed the recipe by making a well in the dry ingredients and poured the wet ingredients in, folding to combine.  As the name of the recipe indicates, there are dried cherries in the mix as well, but to make sure they don't all sink to the bottom of the muffin tins while they bake you need to dust them lightly with flour before you add them to the batter.

Rather than worry about buttering the muffin tins, I used some cute heart paper liners to make it clear that these were meant to be a Valentine's Day treat.  And even though the recipe says to fill the wells about 3/4 full with the batter, I found that they didn't rise as much as I would have liked so go ahead and fill them all the way up if you like fuller more rounded muffins.

Cute heart paper liners
make these extra special!

After you have the batter spooned into the cups, sprinkle them with some sugar to help create a sweet crust for the top of the muffins.  Bake them at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center muffin.  Every oven is different so keep an eye on them.  If you use larger than average muffin tins you will need to bake them longer.

If you want the finished product to be a little sweeter you can be a more heavy handed with the sugar dusting before you bake them.  The batter doesn't make a super sweet muffin and the addition of the orange zest and dried cherries lend a bit of a sour tang so I will probably add a little more sugar on tops the next time I make these.  I went ahead and made a note to that effect right in the cookbook so the next time I go to make these I will remember what I wanted to do differently.  Don't be afraid to do that because it is an easy way to help yourself improve recipes and make them your own as you experiment with various dishes.  Don't trust your memory, because you will forget!

After you take the muffins out of the oven be sure and let them cool completely (unless you plan to eat them right away!) before you store them in tupperware.  You don't want the warmth to create any condensation and make the muffins soggy or ruin that great sugary crust.

All together I think it took me about 10 - 15 minutes to get everything measured, mixed together and spooned in the tins.  It actually took my oven longer to pre-heat than it did for me to get the muffins ready to bake!   I hope you enjoyed learning the recipe and will give these a try for your Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day!
XOXO

Cherry-Poppy Seed muffins cooling

Recipe (courtesy of Tyler Florence's real kitchen cookbook)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 cups all purpose flour (plus more for dusting the cherries)
1 cup sugar, plus more for dusting the top of muffins
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (I used skim)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
zest of 1 orange, finely grated
1 cup dried cherries