Cherry Vanilla Teacakes
I saw perfect cherries at the farmer’s market, and remembered and old recipe of Martha Stewart’s, however she used a whole cherry, pit and all. What is she, high?? Lord knows I’ll crack a crown on a pit, OR my kids will probably swallow them whole. Forget that. I did a different take on them, keeping the cute idea, but making a vanilla cupcake instead - because vanilla and cherry go so well together. Plus - no pesky pits.
ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
24 fresh cherries, pitted, leaving some of the stems on
Line a mini muffin tin with liners, this will make about 24. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and pit your cherries. If you are dumb like me, you hand pit these bad boys til your fingers turn red. If you are smart, you buy a cherry pitter. I like to leave some of the stems on cause it looks pretty cute in the end.
Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
Whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add to the mixer, alternately with the milk. Stir in the vanilla.
Fill the mini liners almost to the top. Then press a cherry into the center of each. The batter will come up and form around the cherry. Again, if you are paranoid someone’s going to eat the stem, you can just leave them off.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, checking for doneness.
These are great because they have a lot of fresh flavor and you can just pop them right in your mouth. Just…don’t eat the stem.
on 02 Jul 2008 at 8:20 am 1.Trying Traditional said …
In the world of cooking with cherries, there is a great debate….to pit or not to pit. The reasoning for leaving the pit in (according to French cookbooks) is because it imparts an almond-like flavor into the baked good.
I, however, am with you and will just add a drop or two of almond extract rather than bust a tooth.
on 02 Jul 2008 at 11:52 am 2.Michele said …
These are genius. I love that they are pitted but not destemmed.