Cherry Chocolate Oat Muffins
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Baking, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: Seasonal, Summer
Yield: 12 standard muffins
Ingredients
  • For Streusel
  • 38 g (6 Tbsp) GF oat flour*
  • 8 g (1 Tbsp) arrowroot or tapioca starch
  • 48 g (¼ cup) coconut or brown sugar
  • ¼ tsp fine kosher or sea salt
  • 45 g (½ cup) GF old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 39 g (3 Tbsp) solid coconut oil
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • For Muffins
  • 400 g (2 ½ cups) fresh dark cherries**
  • 4 oz (⅔ cup) dark chocolate (at least 72% cacao)
  • 78 g (6 Tbsp) coconut oil, firm but not chilled
  • 50 g (¼ cup) evaporated cane juice crystals
  • 48 g (¼ cup) coconut or brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 150 gr (1 ½ cups) GF oat flour*
  • 70 g (¾ cup) natural almond meal or flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 150 ml (½ cup + 2 Tbsp) almond or cashew milk
Procedure
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 12-well muffin pan with paper liners or grease lightly with coconut oil, and set aside.
  2. Make streusel: Combine oat flour, starch, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and mix well to distribute evenly. Stir in oats. Break in coconut oil in pieces, drizzle in vanilla, and use your fingers to work oil and vanilla into dry ingredients until mixture is evenly moistened and holds together in clumps when pinched. Set aside.
  3. Prep cherries and chocolate: Pit cherries, chop coarsely, and set aside (If you don’t have a cherry pitter, refer to original post for pitting options). Chop chocolate into chunks, and set aside as well.
  4. Mix batter: In a large bowl with a handheld mixer or in a stand mixer, cream coconut oil and sugars together on medium-high speed for about one minute or until sugar dissolves and mixture looks somewhat creamy. Reduce speed to medium and beat in eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined. Beat in vanilla extract.
  5. Sift the flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk gently to distribute. Add half of this dry mixture and half of the nut milk to the creamed oil, sugar, and eggs, and beat on medium speed until combined. Add remaining dry mix and nut milk and beat to combine. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat batter for 30 seconds until smooth (if you used natural almond meal you'll still see flecks of skin distributed throughout).
  6. Turn off mixer and use a spoon or spatula to fold in cherries and chocolate.
  7. Bake muffins: Using a two-ounce cookie scoop or ¼-cup dry measuring cup, scoop muffin batter into the pan, dividing evenly among the wells - they should be pretty full.
  8. Top each muffin with a generous sprinkle of streusel, pressing gently to adhere. Bake muffins on lower-middle oven rack for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
  9. Allow muffins to cool in pan on a cooling rack for a few minutes, then remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.
  10. Store muffins at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to a month.
Notes
*I recommend Bob's Red Mill. To make your own oat flour, use a blender, food processor, or flour mill to grind 150 grams (1 ½ cups + 3 Tbsp) GF rolled oats into a fine powder.

**May substitute 12 oz pitted frozen cherries, roughly chopped (no need to thaw).
Recipe by Good Health Gourmet at https://goodhealthgourmet.com/cherry-chocolate-oat-muffins/