Made with fresh cherries, Cherry Chocolate Chunk Muffins are the perfect one bowl, mix-by-hand, sweet treat for summer breakfasts or snacks.
I love fresh cherries. Looooove fresh cherries. Sour or sweet. Dark red bing cherries or golden yellow Ranier cherries. I love them all.
This makes it kind of hard when it comes to baking cherry desserts. Every year, I say I’m going to bake something with fresh cherries… but then I just wind up eating them all instead. I can’t help myself.
This year, however — armed with my 4 at a time cherry pitter (Amazon links are affiliate) and an adorable little sous chef who loves pulling off the stems and lining the cherries up in the pitter, I’m coming in strong with the cherry baked goods.
These chocolate cherry chunk muffins are the first of three cherry recipes coming at you this summer.
That’s right, THREE fresh cherry baking recipes, headed your way! So stock up on cherries and get ready for baking. And by stock up, I mean buy two bags to eat plain and two bags for baking, because four bags of fresh cherries in one week is a totally normal amount of cherries to buy.
Right? Right.
First up, these cherry chocolate chunk muffins. Cherries and chocolate are an A+ combination. A few years ago, I shared these oh-so-good Chocolate Chip Cherry Cupcakes. Cupcakes are sweeter and sugary-er, and maraschino cherries are perfect for that bright pink hue.
For muffins, however, fresh cherries are perfect.
The muffin base is easy: melted butter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and baking powder. Normal muffin ingredients. To this, we’ll fold in chopped fresh cherries (sweet or sour cherries work!) and chopped dark chocolate. Chocolate can easily overpower cherries, which is why we’re using a vanilla-based recipe and adding chocolate chunks.
One of my favorite things about these muffins? You make them by hand in one bowl. Fewer dishes to wash, no need to pull out the mixer.
Perfect for pint-sized bakers or anyone looking to whip up a sweet treat with minimal effort and time.
And the best part of this cherry chocolate chunk muffin? It only requires 1 cup of chopped cherries. So unlike a pie, you still have lots of leftover cherries for eating raw.
Today’s kitchen chemistry is less about making you a better baker, and more about fun (and some cool science).
Look at any of the photos with raw cherries in them. See how they’re dark dark red? Now look at this photo above of the inside of the cherry chocolate chunk muffin.
What’s going on here? Nope, there aren’t a few stray blueberries in the batter — the purple and blueish hues are all from the cherries.
Kitchen Chemistry
Cherries contain a compound called anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are flavanoids that change color based on pH. Cherries are an acidic fruit, with a pH around 4 — meaning the anthocyanins produce a deep red color. Raise the pH by adding neutral or basic ingredients, and the anthocyanins loses a proton and changes the color to purple and blue.
I haven’t tried this myself (yet!) but I think this weekend we’ll try dipping some cherries in different pH solutions and see what color they turn! {I’m always on a quest to find fun science projects to entertain my 4-year-old and turn him into a science lover as well.}
Because these use fresh fruit, they don’t last as long at room temperature as say, a chocolate muffin. These are best consumed within 4 days of baking when stored at room temperature.
Any longer? Toss them in the freezer. Add your muffins to a freezer-safe storage bag and store them for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Not so much sugar that it’s wildly inappropriate for breakfast. Just enough dark chocolate chunks to qualify as a not-so-sweet dessert. A perfect mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Really, these are perfect anytime muffins.
Because cherry season is short, but sweet for certain.
One bowl, mix by hand, vanilla muffins filled with fresh cherries and dark chocolate chunks.
To freeze, transfer fully cooled muffins to a freezer bag and store for up to 3 months. Allow muffins to thaw overnight at room temperature before enjoying.
If using frozen cherries instead of fresh, toss the cherries with an additional 1/8 cup of flour and fold into the batter while still frozen.
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This post was originally published in August 2017 and updated with new text and photos in June 2019.