Dark Chocolate Cherry Sweet Pea Mini Muffins
Makes approximately 60 mini muffins.
Ingredients:
¾ cup special dark unsweetened baking cocoa
2 cups organic unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
⅔ cup organic cane sugar
½ cup organic brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup dark chocolate chips
1 organic dark chocolate cherry candy bar, 3.5-ounce , broken up
2 large organic cage-free eggs
1 container low fat cherry yogurt, 6-ounce
½ cup organic whole milk
⅓ cup naturally sweetened cherry juice
⅔ cup organic cherry preserves
1 teaspoon organic almond flavor
1 cup frozen organic sweet peas, cooked
½ cup almond oil
1 tablespoon flax-seed oil
1 cup organic dried sweetened cherries
Sprinkles
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Generously grease mini muffin pans, including the top of each pan so that the muffin tops don’t stick.
In a large mixing bowl, sift dry ingredients together, breaking up any balled-up brown sugar and/or cocoa and re-sifting them.
Put the dark chocolate chips and the broken candy bar into a food processor until they’re a crumbly flour consistency. Add to the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, blend eggs with yogurt, milk, juice, preserves and extract.
Cook peas and purée in a food processor with the almond oil and the flax-seed oil. Add to wet ingredients and mix until creamy.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the center of the well.
Blend the wet and dry ingredients together gently until the batter is moist. Don’t over mix it.
Gently fold the cherries into the batter, trying to evenly distribute them.
Fill each hole in the mini muffin pans ¾ of the way using a teaspoon, trying to get cherries in each hole.
Bake 14-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (for regular-sized muffins cook at 350F for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean).
Cool the muffins on a wire rack.
Serve plain or dip each muffin in Chocolate Almond Glaze and/or top with Cherry Chunked Whipped Cream and sprinkles or toasted almonds if desired.
Shortcut: use jarred baby food instead of homemade puréed peas.
Chocolate Almond Glaze
Glazes approximately 24-36 mini-muffins.
Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons special dark unsweetened baking cocoa
3-5 tablespoons boiling water
1½ teaspoons organic almond flavor
Instructions:
In a small mixing bowl, combine the powdered sugar and cocoa.
Add the boiling water until desired consistency (creamy and smooth). Add flavoring.
Use before it hardens.
Cherry Chunked Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup fresh cherries, pitted and chopped
Instructions:
Chill a metal mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer a few minutes in advance.
Pit and chop cherries into tiny pieces.
Whip the cream until soft peaks form.
Add the powdered sugar and extract.
Continue beating until slightly stiffer peaks form, but don’t over beat.
Fold in cherry pieces.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
Tag @muffinswithasecret on Instagram and hashtag it #muffinswithasecret