Cherry & Almond Muffins

I made these muffins for breakfast this morning as a special treat.  They turned out delicious.  I used to love making muffins for breakfast, but when I became vegan it was hard to find boxed ones to make.  So now I get to make them from scratch!.  If you love almond flavoring - these are awesome.  It made my house smell so good!  The kids and I are trying to save some for when "dad" gets home from work, but that might not be so easy!  I got the recipe from http://www.meettheshannons.net/, a cool blog where a couple is transforming the whole Betty Crocker cookbook into vegan recipes.  So cool!  The only things I did differently in this recipe were using baking cups instead of spraying, and using chopped almonds instead of sliced.  I only put almonds on half though, because my kids aren't huge nut lovers.  

Cherry & Almond Muffins

• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoons Salt
• 1 Cup Almond Milk 
• 4 Tablespoons Margarine (softened) 
• 1 teaspoon Almond Extract 
• 1 Cup Frozen Cherries (defrosted) 
• 2 Tablespoons Applesauce
• Raw Sugar & Raw Almond Slices to sprinkle over the top.
  Baking Spray (there are several vegan ones - just read the label to make sure) 

Heat oven to 400.
Spray your muffin pan with a light coating of Baking Spray.In a large bowl, combine Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar and Salt with a wire whisk to make sure they are blended. Add Almond Milk, Margarine, Almond Extract and Applesauce and
blend with a hand held electric mixer on the lowest speed.Fold in the defrosted Cherries. Fill muffin pan about 3/4 of the way full. Then sprinkle the top with Raw Sugar and a few Raw Almond Slices. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are golden brown and you can remove a toothpick from the largest muffin cleanly.

 

Chocolate Covered Cherry Pudding Cake

OK, here is my first recipe.  I found it from one on my favorite blogs, http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/.  I made it for Valentines Day and it was so yummy, I licked the bowl and still wanted more!  One little note, if you'd like, you can substitute the soy yogurt for regular yogurt - I used vanilla coconut yogurt - delicious by the way!  Also you can use regular milk instead of the soymilk.  I used chocolate almond milk - also very good!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did!  Let me know what you think!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Pudding Cake
The sauce “magically” sinks down through the cake to form a layer of cherries nestled in chocolate pudding on the bottom. Serve warm or chilled, with or without non-dairy ice cream.

20 frozen pitted cherries (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon rum extract (optional)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons soy yogurt
1/4 cup vanilla soymilk (or other non-dairy milk)
boiling water

Cut the frozen cherries in half (it’s easiest to do this while they’re frozen). Put them in a bowl and stir in 1 teaspoon sugar and rum extract, if using. Allow them to sit at room temperature until they’ve completely thawed and become juicy, 1-2 hours.
Oil or pan spray 4 7-ounce ramekins. Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix together the brown sugar and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and set aside.
Pour the juices off the cherries into a measuring cup. Press lightly on the cherries to get all of the juice (I had about 1/4 cup). Sprinkle the corn starch over the cherries and mix well. Divide the cherries equally among the 4 ramekins.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa, and baking powder. Stir in the vanilla extract, soy yogurt, and soymilk. (Mixture will be very thick.) Drop by tablespoons over the cherries in the ramekins, dividing equally among them. Smooth to cover the cherries.
Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture evenly over the batter, about 2 tablespoons per ramekin. Use a spoon to level the tops.
Add boiling water to the cherry juice up to the 3/4 cup line. Pour or spoon it gently over the brown sugar in the ramekins, about 3 tablespoons per ramekin. Place the ramekins in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until tops appear mostly dry (they should be streaked with darker, wetter looking areas) and sauce is bubbling around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 251 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (3% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 201mg Sodium; 3g Fiber. Weight Watchers 5 points.