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A website about recipes and family, by Jamie Gates.

Dried Cherry Muffins

These dried cherry muffins were created because during the month of January I pledged to cook with what I had in my pantry. At times it was challenging but for the most part I breezed through the month without having to go grocery shopping. It is nice to occasionally do a grocery shopping freeze and use up what is on hand. It is amazing what gets shoved to the back of the pantry or freezer and quickly becomes long forgotten –like that box of clearance priced Halloween themed Funfetti cake mix. When I was assessing the contents of the pantry I came across an unopened bag of dried cherries. Naturally, I opened them up to have a little snack while I continued my assessment.

Oddly enough, cherries have been a pretty constant (and unsatisfied) craving this pregnancy, specifically my Grandma Elaine’s cherry pie. I have never tried rehydrating dried fruit before and didn’t really want to tackle a pie on my first try. I became fixated on the idea of rehydrating the cherries and using them in a baked good of some sort. Scones really stuck out. Quickly I became obsessed with the idea of cherry scones. I have made scones in the past and I knew I had shared them with you all so I quickly checked the archives for my scone recipes. Lo and behold I was stunned to see a chocolate cherry scone recipe I posted last May. They used dried cherries and were perfectly tart and sweet. So I changed directions and went with a cherry muffin using rehydrated dried cherries. I am glad I did. The cherries rehydrated perfectly and were delicious in these buttermilk muffins.

Cherry Muffins

The method I used for making these muffins was the same I used when I made my Jumbo Bakery Style Banana Nut Muffins. This method I first discovered on Sally’s Baking Addiction yields sky-high muffins like you would find in your favorite coffee shop or bakery. To rehydrate the dried cherries you can soak them in water in the fridge overnight or if you’re in a pinch you can pour boiling hot water over them and let them sit for 15 minutes while they plump up. I had time on my side so I soaked them overnight in the fridge. Cherries not your thing try dried blueberries, or cranberries, or even raisins.

Cozy up with a large cup of coffee or tea and enjoy your cherry muffins. Top of the muffin to YOU!

Cherry Muffins

These items helped to make these Dried Cherry Muffins a bit easier:

bakery muffins, Muffins

Comments

  1. I made these dried cherry muffins for my best friend who came to visit with a huge bag of dried cherries and said to myself what a am I going to do with these? Well, I found your website and went to work!!! I had never baked or cooked with dried cherries so I learned that i had to “pop” them first and then to the baking process which by the way was done in about 5 minutes!!! I made jumbo’s and got 5 beautiful muffins, had 1 and the rest are gone!!! I received 2 calls today with nothing but praise for these muffins. Now Grama wants the recipe to make for her knitting group on Wednesday. My girlfriend says I need to become a pasty chef even though I’ve been a nurse for 24 years but have been laid off since October 2013 and no job insight. If I wasn’t 57 I would definately consider a career change. Thank’s so much for your web site. I have been on here all day just recipe hunting. It’s what unemployed people do!!! Debbie.

  2. Made these tonight… great recipe .. i didn’t have buttermilk so i used yogurt as a substitute and it was great

  3. Please help, I’m confused about the comment Debbie made about “pop” the cherries. When would i do that? Also, any suggestions about making this recipe in a mini loaf? Thanks

    1. I am not certain what Debbie meant by popping them. I do not know baking time for mini loaves since I made mine into muffins. I would suggest checking them at about the 30 minute mark. If you make the mini loaves please let me know how long you baked them for.

  4. I came across this and thought hmmm, I bet I could make these gluten and sugar free. So I used 1/2 coconut flour and 1/2 almond flour (had to add water because of the coconut flour) and used 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup (also used coconut oil rather than veg oil) they totally worked! My 2 year old grandson loves them 🙂 thank you for your inspiration!

  5. I don’t know what I did wrong but the batter was so thick. I could barely get the batter into the muffin pan. They looked good, but they didn’t taste like they looked. They tasted like I used to much flour, but I didn’t.

    1. I am sorry the recipe didn’t work for you. Some things that might have happened are the flour may have been packed too tightly into the measuring cup which would yield more than the 3 cups called for. Or maybe the batter got slightly overmixed. I am sorry you did not have the same results I had.

    1. I haven’t made them minis before. If I were to try it I probably would bake them for about 10 minutes then test if they were done. If you try it let me know!

  6. Just made these muffins and they came out perfectly!
    HAD to try one right away and have to thank you for a great recipe.
    Made 14 good size muffins, using regular size muffin tins wih the paper cups.
    As you suggested, filled right to the top, and as always, had spooned the flour into
    measurng cups. Am certain that is the way to measure flour and not all do,
    I didn’t until 4 or 5 yrs ago and now and then I wasn’t pleased with the texture of the baked batter. Heard on a tv cooking show to measure as you suggested ., also.
    I bake muffins every Sat afternoon for family and neighbors and am 89. This will be the surprise this weekend. They’l love them

  7. I wanna try this but is allergic to nuts and oils can i not use it and still turn out rite thx

  8. I made these this morning. Didn’t have almond so subbed vanilla flavoring and added a cup of chopped pecans. Some of the best muffins I have ever had! Soft and moist with so much flavor from the cherries.

    1. this warms my heart. I am so glad you enjoy them and that you’re sharing them with others. <3 thank you for sharing!

  9. It’s probably silly to post a comment 6 years after you’ve shared this but recipes are forever right? This was delicious and easy. Thank you for sharing.

  10. We go through very intense stages of dried fruit consumption. We’ll go through several containers in a month and then go a few months without even a raisin in sight.

    I needed something to do with the THREE bags of dried cherries I just found. Thank you for a solution!

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