Cherry Crumb Muffins

I woke up yesterday to a text from my mom telling me to check out Google. Anyone else see it? The home page had a little tribute to Lucille Ball in honor of her would-be 100th birthday. Now, I have been a long time fan of "I Love Lucy," and suddenly felt inspired to bake. 

I've had this snap shot from the show on display in my college room for the last four years.

To properly honor the brilliant comedian, I decided to bake something containing the three ingredients of Vitameatavegamin: 

Vitamins, Meat, and Vegetables...

Just kidding! That would be totally gross. 

What I actually did, was turn to the local farmer's market for inspiration and bake something usually fresh fruit. 

As luck would have it, yesterday was the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market's birthday too! Happy 200th! 

To celebrate, Washtenaw Dairy, a favorite local ice cream shop, was giving away free ice cream, so that booth was my first stop. Full of moose tracks ice cream topped with fresh peaches and berries, I wandered around the market deciding what to buy:

• More squash of course! Tiny patty pan ones and squash blossoms again
• Some local coffee that my friends have been raving about for weeks called Lobster Butter
• Fresh Michigan cherries

A few weeks ago, I'd bookmarked a recipe for cherry crumb muffins. I looked it up again, found the original recipe, and discovered that with one little substitution, I could easily make them with the ingredients already in my house.

Cherry Crumb Muffins (recipe adapted from Pink Parsley):
Makes 12 muffins:

• 4 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I used about 2 tablespoons extra)
• 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and quartered
• 10 cherries, pitted and left whole

Crumb Topping:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbs unsalted butter, cubed

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease or line muffin pan with cupcake liners
• Cream butter, sugar, and almond extract
• In another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt
• Add egg to butter mixture
• Add half of yogurt, followed by half of flour mixture, alternating until all is incorporated
• Fold in cherries
• To make crumb topping, sift dry ingredients before adding butter. Mix with pastry cutter or fingers until crumbly consistency is acquired 
• Divide batter evenly among muffin tin and top each with 1 tablespoon of crumb topping and one whole pitted cherry
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean
• Allow to cool in muffin pan for 10 minutes, then remove to serve or continue cooling

Yoga Mat Optional!

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