Thursday, June 17, 2010

Cherry & Brown Butter Streusel Muffins


Whew. Well, that was unexpected. It has been almost 4 weeks since I posted anything, I can hardly believe it. I went out of town fully intending to bake and post while I was there - I even drove half-way across the country with my stand mixer, digital scale and a box of baking essentials. Then about 3 days into the trip, my laptop died. My 1 1/2 year old MacBook Pro. Died. I was not so happy about this. I waiting to find out if it can be fixed, and in the meantime, I'm borrowing my mom's laptop. Thanks, Mom!

I've been back in town about a week, and finally got around to baking last night.


I miraculously found cherries for $1.49 per pound - organic, of course - and decided to make a treat for my little ones to wake up to this morning.


It is no secret around here that I'm slightly obsessed with all things containing brown butter and topped with streusel; I mean, how can you go wrong?! I thought the deep nutty flavor of the brown butter would pair nicely with the juicy, moderately tart cherries. Oh, yes. Oh. Yes.

These muffins arenot excessively moist, so don't overbake them! They are, however, soft and tender and incredibly flavorful. The brown butter really comes through, and melds beautifully with the whole wheat flour and vanilla extract. The streusel adds a wonderful crunch, while the cherries provide little bursts of juiciness every couple bites. Berries of any variety would also work great in this recipe, just be sure not to thaw them if you use frozen ones.


* * * * *


Cherry & Brown Butter Streusel Muffins


For the Streusel
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup palm sugar
2.5 oz (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, browned

For the Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup palm sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch*
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, browned
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pitted cherries, then halved

Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 regular muffin cups with liners, or butter and flour cups.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for streusel, mix well, and place in refrigerator until needed.

In a large bowl stir together flours, palm sugar, baking powder, arrowroot or cornstarch and salt. In the pan you browned your butter in, add milk and vanilla extract. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Fold in cherry halves. Distribute batter evenly among muffin cups. Crumble streusel on top of batter in cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into center of muffins comes out clean.

*You may have noticed this is an eggless recipe. If you would prefer to use eggs instead of the arrowroot or cornstarch: omit arrowroot/cornstarch from dry mix; reduce milk to 3/4 cup; add two eggs to butter mixture after you've added the milk - it should be cool enough that the eggs won't cook.


10 comments:

  1. What a great treat to come back with Sarah. They look super delish.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Welcome back, Sarah. Missed your recipes/posts.

    These do look good. Browned butter and streusel work for me.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. You got a really good deal on those cherries! I am picking some up this week (for quite a bit more, sigh) and will have to give these muffins a try.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love your blog, cant wait to read more!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi there.. visiting from foodgawker and was searching for recipes to use my fresh cherries in. This looks like a good one to try. Thanks for the inspiration :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. yum, these sound lovely. Muffins with crunchy tops are the best!

    ReplyDelete
  7. mmmm. crumb topping. <3
    the muffins look great!
    oh, by the way, i have nominated your blog for the happy 101 award =). you can check out the details on the latest post on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Welcome back!! Wow, you took your KitchenAid with you on your trip... you're my hero! Seriously! The closest to that I got on my trip last month is I took my kitchen scale + baking essentials (pans included) with me... overseas! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  9. These sound fabulous. I adore cherries, their season is too short lived!

    ReplyDelete
  10. My husband would adore these -- he's a cherry-loving guy! Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails

ShareThis