Las Vegan sour cherry muffins

These muffins are big and sticky and tasty, but surprisingly lower in fat and sugar than
usual varieties. You will need a jar of pitted sour cherries, which usually come from Eastern
Europe and can be found in continental delicatessens and some supermarkets.

Makes 12 Muffins
¼ cup (35 g) almonds
2½ cups (400 g) unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1¼ cups (125 g) sugar
½ cup (125 ml) cherry juice
1 cup (250 ml) apple juice
½ cup (125 ml) light oil,
e.g. sunflower
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (225 g) pitted sour cherries
Glaze
¼ cup (60 ml) cherry juice
2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar
Oven 180°C/350°F/Gas 4

Instructions

Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.
Strain the cherries, reserving the juice for the muffin mix and the glaze.
For the muffins, in a food processor, coarsely grind the almonds. Sift the flour,
bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and
almonds to the flour and mix well. Mix the cherry juice, apple juice, oil and vanilla in
a small bowl. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold together carefully – do not
overmix – and stir in the cherries. Add extra apple juice if needed; you are looking for a
fairly loose but not too runny consistency.
Pour a generous amount of batter into each liner – I find it useful to use a ¹⁄³ cup (5
tablespoons) measure for this, which seems to be about the right amount – and bake for
25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Do not over bake.
For the glaze, heat the cherry juice and sugar together in a small pan. Bring to the boil,
then remove from the heat. Brush the muffins with the syrup immediately after baking,
then cool on a wire rack.