CHERRY MAHLEPI MUFFINS

The sun is out, the flowers are in bloom, and absolutely gorgeous cherries are for sale (so of course I did not come back empty handed!) what a perfect day you may say! *Sigh* Why can't life always be that simple?

I was of course going to enjoy some of the cherries I brought back home on their own, scrumptiously raw and sweet, but I also felt like using them in some muffins. I have been in fruity muffin moods lately...maybe because the thought of waking up to a cup of coffee and a muffin studded with some summer fruits was something I didn't want to just be dreaming about at night- but waking up to it too.

But... cherry muffins? That sounded so...blah...bland? So I thought that maybe adding a touch of mahlepi to the batter could spark some muffin magic and make it intensely cherrylicious. In effect, mahlepi is the seed kernel of a sour cherry variety. In our family, we have used ground mahlepi in many traditional bread and cookie recipes and it always adds a unique flavour... it is said that it has the taste of bitter almond and cherry...but to me it is a  truly mysterious taste- in a good way of course- and in all honesty, I really wouldn't know how to describe it. So my only suggestion is, if you aren't familiar with mahlepi, you'll never know what you're missing out on unless you give it a try!

This is what ground mahlepi looks like (below). The funny thing about mahlepi is that it doesn't really smell like anything, unlike other spices, but a small teaspoon of this just bursts with fragrance once baked!

And it would come to form a lovely duet with some cherries:

Yes, my muffin paper moulds did not fit...but sometimes you have to work with what you have! What I really wanted to show actually was the sprinkle of brown sugar on the muffin batters before popping them into the oven.

While they baked, I came accross a beautiful zebra-ish rose in the garden...thought I would share :)

And there they were, cherry mahlepi muffins -for real- so I no longer have to dream about coffee and fruity muffins for breakfast!

Recipe for Cherry - Mahelpi muffins:

makes 6 large muffins or 12 small muffins

2eggs

100gr butter, softened

100gr brown sugar + some for sprinkling at the end

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon rosewater

130gr flour

1.5 teaspoons ground mahlepi

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

Cherries, unpitted, diced

Preheat oven to 180C. In a bowl, mix the eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla and rosewater. Then add the flour, mahlepi, baking powder and salt. Mix well until batter is smooth. Add the diced cherries and mix the batter gently with a wooden spoon or spatula. Fill up muffin moulds up 3/4 full, sprinkle some brown sugar on top and bake for 20 minutes at 180C. Once baked, let cool and enjoy

FOR ALL THE CHOCOHOLICS OUT THERE!

May I tempt you with a generous slice of what turned out to be an intensely chocolatey cherry cake I made for a recent birthday? I absolutely loved making this as it was a cake for a chocoholic from a chocoholic, and with such similar taste when it comes to desserts between the mr.birthday and myself I knew exactly what he wanted- we literally share a certain telepathy when it comes to sugar coated choices!

I love dusting cakes with cocoa- here it gave an elegant effect over the cherries!

The innards, devine!!

Recipe for Intensely Chocolatey Cherry cake:

200gr dark chocolate, broken down into pieces

200gr butter

200gr sugar
4 eggs
150gr flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons cherry jam, heated until liquidy
Chocolate & liquid cream for the ganache, with portions set at 2 parts chocolate: 1 part cream
Cherries- pits removed.

Preheat oven to 180C. Melt the chocolate & butter together, set aside until it cools down a bit. In a bowl beat the sugar and eggs until mixture whitens, then add the melted chocolate/butter. Add the flour, baking powder and salt- mix well until smooth. Transfer batter to cake mould (fill 3/4 up) lined with parchment paper and bake for 25mins (check with a sharp knife and extend time by 10 mins if needed). Remove from oven, let cool and place cake in freezer for 1 hour- this is to allow easier slicing for later step.

Prepare ganache: in a pot, heat the liquid but do not let it burn. Remove from heat, throw in the chocolate, cover with lid for 5 mins. Remove lid and stir until smooth and silky.

Slice cake in half horizontally. On the bottom half, poke layer with a fork and brush over the liquidy cherry jam. Follow with a layer of the ganache and then some cherries. Cover bottom half with the top half, and coat entire cake with chocolate ganache. If you have leftover cherries, use some on top for decoration and optionally you can dust it all with cocoa. Place in fridge for a few hours until set and then enjoy!

Of course- feel free to use other fruits: raspberries, strawberries, etc!