Friday, February 13, 2009

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!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a total Chococherryholic :) so I love these muffins!

Jennifer said...

Ohh those muffins are on my list to try, YUM. Your hubby is in Nigeria? Wow! Is he in the millitary?

Sara said...

These look so delicious, of course I just love anything with chocolate!

Unknown said...

Oh my good gracious : ). These muffins look scrumptious. I am going ramsack the kitchen right this second and see if I have the ingredients for them! YUM to the max : )
and PS Your cookies are CUTE too!

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Wow, those muffins are spectacular! Your baking enthusiasm comes right though in your post; it sounds like you did make a bunch of people happy. I baked all weekend but not Valentines treats - just breads.
Nancy

Dragana said...

Hope the boys didn't eat mine!

Debbie said...

I love your blog. The whole look of it is so appealing. And those sweets are great. Sorry your sweetie was away on Valentines.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Leslie said...

What great flavors to combine! I bet they were yummy!

Teanna DiMicco said...

Those look AWESOME! I definitely have to try those!

PaTan said...

Oh...lovely Muffins and V gift set.
Thank you for stopping in my blog with lovely comment.
Tan.;)