Cherry Vanilla Teacakes
I saw perfect cherries at the farmer’s market, and remembered an old Martha Stewart recipe. An adorable cake for sure but hers used a cherry, pit and all. That doesn’t quite work for my dental crowns or my kids who swallow everything whole.
Instead I created little vanilla teacakes and pitted the cherries beforehand. These are great because they have a lot of fresh flavor and you can just pop them right in your mouth. Still adorable, still delicious, minus the choking hazard.
Cherry Vanilla Teacakes
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
24 fresh cherries, pitted
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep a mini muffin tin with liners, this will make about 24.
Wash and pit the cherries using a paring knife. Leaving on some of the stems.
In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla.
Add the flour mixture alternating with the milk.
Fill the mini liners, then press a cherry into the center of each. The batter will come up and form around the cherry.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
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.
These are genius. I love that they are pitted but not destemmed.
I made these! Except..regular sized. and with blueberries (they were cheaper). So I semi-made these. They were good.
Gotta try it with the cherries sometime. Thanks! 🙂
Had to try these – they looked so cute.
First, the cheeries…I used a large pastry tip to take out the pit and it worked like a charm. Keeping the stems on took a little work, but I did a few anyway. After a few tries and red fingers, I think it worked best by making a large “X” on the bottom of the cherry and splitting it so you can take out the seed…hence, the red fingers because you have to kind of pry the pit out. It is easier working with softer cherries.
Second, I ended up with 36 mini muffins – maybe your mini muffin pan is bigger than mine? Anyway, that was a nice surprise because I could share more!
I did add 1 tsp of almond extract and just 1 tsp of vanilla extract…love that almond flavor.
Everyone loved them!! Thanks.
awesomely yummerific!~