I’m back again! Less of a break this time. The benefit of doing this lower-pressue version of the blog is that I can go home for a month and half and spend my time baking Christmas cookies and sharing them with family in real life and not post them. But now I’m back in LA and excited to get back into it. Starting with these beauts, Cherry Ricotta Muffins.
My fridge was emptied out before I went home, so I was able to get a fresh start there. But my freezer still had a bunch of random stuff in it. Including, a bag of frozen cherries and a lack of craving for smoothies. So, naturally, I perused Bon Appetit’s website and found a recipe for a ricotta blueberry cake, and I adapted it into these cherry muffins. Simple as that!
I have, amazingly, never baked with ricotta before. I need to make more of a habit of it, because it truly makes cakes (and pancakes, from my eating experience) the lightest and tastiest they can be. They have nearly he density of pound cake, but then the lightness of a pancake. The ideal cake scenario if you ask me!
In terms of dairy products you can mix into cakes, I know that when you add buttermilk or yogurt, the acidity interacts with the baking soda to help in rising. I know when you add mayonnaise to chocolate cake, it adds a ton of moisture and makes it delicious. But I had to do some research to find out about ricotta. I believe it plays the role of mayonnaise in lighter flavored cakes, in that it just makes it so much more moist. And somehow delicate-tasting.
Anyways, it was an exciting first bake of the new year to try something brand new! I’ll have to take a look in the cake cookbook my grandma got me for Christmas (Anne Byrn is really on a roll, and I am a fan) for future cakes. I’ll also try to share some more real-food recipes on here in the coming months, as I (and we all) try to cut back on sweets after the holiday! Stay tuned!
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PinIngredients
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
1½ cups ricotta
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup frozen cherries (or raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries), divided (you can chop these up if desired)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°. Line each tin of your muffin pan with a parchment muffin wrapper. pan with
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Whisk eggs, ricotta, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth; fold into dry ingredients just until blended.
Then fold in butter, followed by ¾ cup cherries, taking care not to crush them.
Spoon batter by the 1/4-1/3 cup into prepared tins and scatter remaining ¼ cup raspberries over top.
Bake muffins until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 17-22 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before removing from the pan. Repeat with any remaining batter.
Store tightly wrapped at room temperature, or in the fridge (I thought they tasted great cold)