Cherry Garcia Muffins

Last week when I was in the shuk, the large beautiful market place in the heart of Jerusalem that is bursting with amazing fresh produce and spices, I bought more cherries than any one person can eat. The produce in Israel is seasonal and local which means we only have certain produce certain times of the year. We might not be able to get some fruits throughout the year, but that's ok because the few weeks that they are available they are so incredibly delicious that you're ok with the fact that you can't have a peach in December.

Late spring is when the market starts filling with the fruits of summer; peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, plums, watermelon, to name a few. When these fruits are available you buy them in abundance like I did with the cherries last week.

The other day I was munching on some of these cherries and I got to thinking how I can add them to a muffin. I'm always trying to come up with new muffin recipes and now that it's summer I was thinking of ice cream flavors that can be turned into a muffin. My favorite ice cream flavor is cookie dough, but I didn't think that would translate well into muffin form and I would much rather just eat raw cookie dough. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Ben&Jerry's ice cream flavor that is packed with chunks of chocolate and cherries, Cherry Garcia, and I thought that would really work as a muffin. The sweet-tart cherries with the creamy rich dark chocolate are an amazing combination. Pack those delicious flavors into a light and tender muffin and you've got yourself a great summer treat.

Cherry Garcia Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk of your choice
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar + 1 Tbs sugar
2 cups of cherries about 30-35
100 grams/3.5 oz dark chocolate bar cut into chunks or 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C
Line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray with oil.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon until just combined. In a liquid measuring cup mix together the oil, milk, egg, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry and add 1/2 cup sugar.
Using a cherry pitter or a straw push the pits out of the cherries and cut in half. Or you can use your fingers to pull the cherries apart and remove the pit.
Fold the pitted and halved cherries and the chocolate chunks into the batter.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle each muffin with the remaining one tablespoon of sugar.
Bake for 15-18 minutes.