Once again I've consulted
Mollie Katzens Sunlight Café
for breakfast inspiration, but these ricotta muffins loaded with fresh sweet cherries are good enough for dessert! Her own description pretty much sums them up:
Imagine a muffin that took Italian cheesecake lessons. In all seriousness, that's what these taste like.
I paid a small fortune for fresh cherries, as the local variety are not yet in season, but it was worth every dime. Serve these up at any time of the day.
 Cherry-Vanilla Ricotta Muffins |
Recipe by Lisa Turner
From Mollie Katzens Sunlight Café
Published on June 9, 2007
Soft creamy ricotta "cheesecake" muffins loaded with plump fresh sweet cherries — made for breakfast but good enough for dessert
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 to 25 minutes
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Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups unbleached white flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- zest from 1 lemon (1 tablespoon)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
Other ingredients:
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- juice from 1/2 lemon (1 tablespoon)
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/2 cups fresh sliced or frozen cherries or 1 cup dried cherries
Instructions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F and grease 12 standard size muffin cups. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. In a medium bowl, beat together the ricotta and buttermilk. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with a metal whisk after each addition. Then beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. Pour the ricotta mixture into the dry ingredients and add the melted butter and cherries. Using a rubber spatula, stir from the bottom of the bowl until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Take care not to overmix. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned on the top and a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean. (If you are using frozen cherries, the baking time will be a little longer because the cherries contain more liquid). Remove from the oven and let the muffins stand in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a metal rack to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes before serving.
Makes 12 muffins |
9 comments:
I am definitely making these in the coming weeks. They looks delicious. Thanks! :)
This is going on my list of things to make! I love ricotta and I have cherries! YUM@
Mmmm. Damn fine muffins Lisa - thanks!
That recipe looks so freakin' good I gained about ten pounds looking at it.
Have only just discovered dried cherries in the last couple of years - not sure how I let them pass me by for so long.
Lovely muffin recipe.
Drool.
I am going to try Cherry-Vanilla Ricotta Muffins recipe which looks tempting and irresistable. I have posted some cake recipes for vegetarians in www.vegetarianandhealth.com
I have been curious about Katzen's later cookbooks. I've owned and loved her Moosewood and Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbooks for years. Can't wait to give these a try!
I made these using fresh cherries. The muffins are very tasty, but very dense and didn’t rise high as most muffins do. They looked squat. But as I said, tasted great. I would have done a few things differently next time. First I would chop the pitted cherries into small dice, as I felt the larger pieces sunk to the bottom of the muffins and weren’t as attractive. I would have also sprinkled some thinly sliced almonds on the top of the batter just prior to baking. I felt that the top of the muffins needed “something” to make it more appealing. I’m not sure what would help them rise more, but overall a good recipe.
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