When cherries are in season, I can't help but pick up a bag every time I see them in the produce section or at a roadside stand. The result: more cherries than we can eat by hand.
Fortunately, cherries are divine for cooking with – they make fantastic jam, and ice cream, and smoothies – but they can also take the place of more traditional blueberries when you're baking muffins. Because there are always overripe bananas in our house (or in our freezer), I've taken to using a basic banana bread recipe as muffins – and it turns out a handful of cherries goes very well stirred into the batter.
If you're heading to the campground or taking a road trip this summer, these freeze well – and will be thawed by the time you're ready for a little snack. I far prefer homemade muffins to buying a bunch whenever we stop for coffee.
Cherry-Banana Muffins
3 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1-2 cups pitted, halved or quartered cherries
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla with a potato masher – don’t worry about getting all the lumps out.
Add the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until almost combined; add the cherries and stir just until blended.
Divide among 12 greased or paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch. Makes about a dozen muffins.
