Say I Love You with Muffins!

Happy Valentine's Day Eve, everyone! This is the first year that I have absolutely gone baking overboard with Valentine's Day Treats.  It was so much fun.

From Valentines Day Eve

I came up with this new recipe that I am absolutely bananas about. Well, actually cherries. Here is the recipe for these amazingly, adorable creatures I call,  Chococherry Muffins.

Carolina's Chococherry Muffins

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/3 cups of buttermilk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) plus 2 tbs butter, MELTED
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup of dark chocolate mini kisses or chopped dark chocolate
1/2 cup of dried cherries

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease 12 muffin pan cups.

2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, butter, eggs,  and vanilla in a small bowl until blended. Stir flour into mixture just until moistened. Fold in chocolate and cherries. Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling 1/2 full.

3. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for about 5 minutes or so. Remove muffins from pan to rack; cool 10 minutes.

Makes 12 -15 muffins.

From Valentines Day Eve

I was happy with my first attempt at this new recipe. I think next time I will steep the cherries before adding them to the mix. I also will dust the tops of the muffins with cocoa or chocolate powder.  In this batch, I added some white chocolate chips, but I think next time I will exclude them. I am going for the cordial taste. Overall, I was pleased with this recipe.  The muffins were gooey with a chocolate cherry center and not too sweet, just right. My neighbor and friend, Cissy, agreed. My daughter polished hers off in a flash.  That is what it is all about, treating others!

These muffins have a cocoa flavoring, so they really go well with coffee.

I  made up some cookes inspired by a Pillsbury creation.  Here is a picture:

From Valentines Day Eve

I also made some Jackson Pollack inspired cookies for my V-Day treat gifts.  Here is the slide show of some of my V-Day goodies that I handed out today.




All in all, I was very happy handing out sweets today.  It was neat to see so many faces light up. It is a special thing in this life to make someone happy for even a brief moment.

Have a wonderfully, happy Valentine's Day. My hubby is working in Nigeria on Valentine's Day for the second year in a row, so I would like to send him a shout out, I LOVE YOU, BABY!

See ya next week!