{"id":384,"date":"2016-02-24T14:48:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T14:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pixiedustgourmet.com\/?p=384"},"modified":"2016-02-26T16:04:47","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T16:04:47","slug":"dark-chocolate-cherry-almond-muffins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/2016\/02\/24\/dark-chocolate-cherry-almond-muffins\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Muffins"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Muffin Recipe<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

\"12784605_10153887607743077_629661371_n\"Another tribute to my Italian heritage – from my kitchen to yours!<\/p>\n

Think real Maraschino cherries is syrup. Visualize moist almond cake. Picture dark chocolate covered cherries. These muffins have it all! \u00a0I included instructions for adapting to Paleo, vegan, low-sugar and dairy-free diets<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And while you can<\/em> omit the booze, I highly recommend it for a more authentic Italian flavor profile (see what I did there with the fancy sounding commentary?!)<\/p>\n

Either way, these babies are packed full of good fats, protein, vitamins and minerals including: vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, biotin (vitamin B7), copper, magnesium, riboflavin (vitamin B2), insoluble fiber, protein, amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids and phosphorus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n


\n\"12784240_10153887197323077_915390788_n\"1 C almond flour
\n<\/span>1 2\/3 C gluten-free flour blend \u00a0\u00a0substitute 1\/3 C almond flour and 1 C coconut flour for paleo<\/em><\/span>
\n1 tsp baking powder
\n<\/span>1 tsp baking soda
\n1 tsp guar gum \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>
\n1 tsp sea salt
\n<\/span>1\/2 sugar \u00a0 \u00a0use coconut, palm or date sugar for paleo<\/em>
\n4 large organic eggs – beaten \u00a0 \u00a0use chia or\u00a0flax-seed egg for vegan – 1 tbsp ground seed and 3 tbsp water combined for each egg and refrigerate for 20 minutes<\/em><\/span>
\n1\/2 C full-fat ricotta \u00a0\u00a0use unsweetened applesauce for paleo<\/em>
\n1 tbsp pure almond extract \u00a0\u00a0omit for Paleo if you are being strict about alcohol<\/em><\/span>
\n1\/2 cup unsweetened almond milk<\/span>
\n6 oz dried Bing cherries – preferably unsweetened
\n<\/span>1\/3 -1\/2 C gluten-free white rum or vodka \u00a0 \u00a0omit for Paleo if you are being strict about alcohol<\/em>
\n1\/2 C dark brown sugar\u00a0 \u00a0 reduce to 1\/3 C if cherries are sweetened and use maple syrup or honey for paleo<\/em>
\n2 tsp natural cherry extract – I like Bakto brand\u00a0 \u00a0 omit for Paleo if you are being strict about alcohol<\/em>
\n4 oz very dark chocolate 62%-70% – coarsely chopped \u00a0 \u00a0use cacao chips for Paleo and vegan<\/em>
\n1\/2 C slivered almonds<\/p>\n

Instructions<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. \"12767751_10153887207193077_48525241_n\"Preheat oven to 375\u00ba. Line a twelve-cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray\/grease<\/li>\n
  2. In a pan on the stove, cook cherries, brown sugar, rum and cherry extract until cherries plump up and liquid is reduced to a very thick, sticky syrup. Turn off heat.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Add in the eggs, butter, almond milk, ricotta\/yogurt\/applesauce and almond extract, beating until the batter is thick and smooth.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Add in cherries with syrup and stir to combine.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Add chopped chocolate and stir to combine.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Spoon the batter evenly into the twelve muffin cups.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Top with slivered almonds. (You can also just throw some\u00a0almonds on top after you take it out of the oven – this is what I did when I forgot to put them on before!)<\/li>\n
  9. Bake for 18-22 minutes or so until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean of batter.
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Cook’s Note: These can also be made in mini tart pans, mini loaf pans or a larger loaf pan – just adjust cooking times accordingly and reduce heat to 350\u00b0.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Muffin Recipe Another tribute to my Italian heritage – from my kitchen to yours! Think real Maraschino cherries is syrup. Visualize moist almond cake. Picture dark chocolate covered cherries. These muffins have it all! \u00a0I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45,46,14],"tags":[17,58,62,24,23,63],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breakfast","category-dessert","category-recipes","tag-breakfast","tag-gluten-free","tag-italian","tag-muffins","tag-paleo","tag-vegan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/12325431_10153887607723077_768998831_n-e1456338083836.jpg?fit=918%2C668&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6ZJS1-6c","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pixiedustgourmet.com\/personal-chef-Boston\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}